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PRIESTLEY 

IN 

AMERICA 


SMITH 


PRIESTLEY 

IN 

AMERICA 

1794- 1804 


BY 

EDGAR  F.  SMITH 

UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 


(S^OfO^  ^.  S^-<^t. 


7-/ 


^2^C> 


PHILADELPHIA 

P.  BLAKISTON'S  SON  &  CO. 

1012  WALNUT  STREET 


^^■j^^?)7. 


Copyright,  1920,  by  P.  Blakiston's  Son  &  Co. 


THE     MAPLE      PRESS     "TORK     PA 


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PREFACE 


The  writer,  in  studying  the  lives  of  early  Ameri- 
^  can  chemists,   encountered   the  name  of  Joseph 

Priestley  so  frequently,  that  he  concluded  to  in- 
stitute a  search  with  the  view  of  learning  as  much 
as  possible  of  the  life  and  activities,  during  his 
exile  in  this  country,  of  the  man  whom  chemists 
everywhere  deeply  revere.  Recourse,  therefore, 
was  had  to  contemporary  newspapers,  documents 
and  books,  and  the  resulting  material  woven  into 
the  sketch  given  in  the  appended  pages.  If  noth- 
ing more,  it  may  be,  perhaps,  a  connecting  chapter 
for  any  future  history  of  chemistry  in  America. 
Its  preparation  has  been  a  genuine  pleasure, 
which,  it  is  hoped  by  him  whose  hand  guided  the 
pen,  will  be  shared  by  his  fellow  chemists,  and 
all  who  are  interested  in  the  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  science  in  this  country. 


PRIESTLEY  IN  AMERICA 

There  lies  before  the  writer  a  tube  of  glass, 
eleven  and  one  half  inches  in  length  and  a  quarter 
of  an  inch  in  diameter.  Its  walls  are  thin.  At 
one  end  there  is  evidence  that  an  effort  was  made 
to  bend  this  tube  in  the  flame.  Ordinarily  it 
would  be  tossed  aside;  but  this  particular  tube  was 
given  the  writer  years  ago  by  a  great-grandson  of 
Joseph  Priestley.  Attached  to  the  tube  is  a  bit 
of  paper  upon  which  appear  the  words  ''piece  of 
tubing  used  by  Priestley."  That  legend  has  made 
the  tube  precious  in  the  heart  and  to  the  eye  of 
the  writer.  Everything  relating  to  this  wonderful 
figure  in  science,  history,  religion,  politics  and 
philosophy  is  very  dear  to  him.  On  all  sides  of 
him  are  relics  and  reminders  of  Priestley.  Not 
all,  but  many  of  his  publications  are  near  at  hand. 
After  perusal  of  these  at  various  times,  and  while 
reading  the  many  life  sketches  of  Priestley, 
there  has  come  the  desire  to  know  more  about  his 
activities  during  the  decade  (i 794-1804)  he  lived 


2  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

in  America.  Isn't  it  fair  to  declare  that  the 
great  majority  of  chemical  students  think  of 
Priestley  as  working  only  in  England,  his  native 
land,  and  never  give  thought  to  his  efforts  during 
the  last  ten  years  of  his  life?  It  has  been  said 
that  he  probably  inspired  and  incited  the  young 
chemists  of  this  country  to  renewed  endeavor  in 
their  science  upon  his  advent  here.  There  is  no 
question  that  he  influenced  James  Woodhouse  and 
his  particular  confreres  most  profoundly,  as  he 
did  a  younger  generation,  represented  by  Robert 
Hare.  Priestley  again  set  in  rapid  motion  chem- 
ical research  in  the  young  Republic.^  He  must 
therefore  have  done  something  himself.  What 
was  it?  Is  it  worth  while  to  learn  the  character 
of  this  work?  Modern  tendencies  are  antagoni- 
stic to  the  past.  Many  persons  care  nothing  for 
history.  It  is  a  closed  book.  They  do  not  wish 
it  to  be  opened,  and  yet  the  present  is  built  upon 
the  early  work.  In  reviewing  the  development 
of  chemistry  in  this  country  everything,  from  the 
first  happening  here,  should  be  laid  upon  the  table 
for  study  and  reflection.  Thus  believing,  it  will 
not  be  out  of  place  to  seek  some  light  upon  the 
occupation  of  the  discoverer  of  oxygen  after  he 
came  to  live  among  us — with  our  fathers. 

1  Chemistry  in    Old    Philadelphia,    J.    B.   Lippincott    Co., 
Phila.,  Pa. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  3 

Noble-hearted,  sympathetic  Thomas  E.  Thorpe 
wrote: 

If,  too,  as  you  draw  up  to  the  fire  'betwixt  the 
gloaming  and  the  mirk'  of  these  dull,  cold 
November  days,  and  note  the  little  blue 
flame  playing  round  the  red-hot  coals, 
think  kindly  of  Priestley,  for  he  first  told 
us  of  the  nature  of  that  flame  when  in  the 
exile  to  which  our  forefathers  drove  him. 

*  Right  there,  "the  nature  of  the  flame,"  is  one 
thing  Priestley  did  explain  in  America.  He  discov- 
ered carbon  monoxide — not  in  England,  but  in 
'  'exile.  "-^  It  may  not  be  an  epoch-making  observa- 
tion. There  are  not  many  such  and  those  who  make 
them  are  not  legion  in  number.  It  was  an  inters 
resting  fact,  with  a  very  definite  value,  which  has 
persisted  through  many  succeeding  decades  and  is 
so  matter-of-fact  that  rarely  does  one  arise  to  ask 
who  first  discovered  this  simple  oxide  of  carbon. 
Priestley  was  a  man  of  strong  human  sym- 
pathies. He  loved  to  mingle  with  men  and  ex- 
change thoughts.  Furthermore,  Priestley  was  a 
minister — a  preacher.  He  was  ordained  while  at 
Warrington,  and  gloried  in  the  fact  that  he  was  a 

^Correspondence  of  Priestley  by  H.  C.Bolton,  New  York, 
1892. 


4  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

Dissenting  Minister.  It  was  not  his  devotion  to 
science  which  sent  him  ''into  exile."  His  advan- 
ced thought  along  political  and  religious  lines, 
his  unequivocal  utterances  on  such  subjects, — 
proved  to  be  the  rock  upon  which  he  shipwrecked. 
It  has  been  said — 

By  some  strange  irony  of  fate  this  man,  who 
was  by  nature  one  of  the  most  peaceable 
and  peace-loving  of  men,  singularly  calm 
and  dispassionate,  not  prone  to  disputation 
or  given  to  wrangling,  acquired  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  perhaps  the  most  cantanker- 
ous man  of  his  time 

There  is  a  wide-spread  impression  that  Priestley 
was  a  chemist.  This  is  the  answer  which  invari- 
ably comes  from  the  lips  of  students  upon  being 
interrogated  concerning  him.  The  truth  is  that 
Priestley's  attention  was  only  turned  to  chemis- 
try when  in  the  thirties  by  Matthew  Turner,  who 
lectured  on  this  subject  in  the  Warrington  Acad- 
emy in  which  Priestley  labored  as  a  teacher.  So 
he  was  rather  advanced  in  life  before  the  science  he 
enriched  was  revealed  to  him  in  the  experimental 
way.  Let  it  again  be  declared,  he  was  a  teacher. 
His  thoughts  were  mostly  those  of  a  teacher. 
Education    occupied    him.     He    wrote    upon    it. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  5 

The  old  Warrington  Academy  was  a  ''hot-bed  of 
liberal  dissent,"  and  there  were  few  subjects  upon 
which  he  did  not  publicly  declare  himself  as  a 
dissenter. 

He  learned  to  know  our  own  delightful  Franklin 
in  one  of  his  visits  to  London.  Franklin  was  then 
sixty  years  of  age,  while  Priestley  was  little  more 
than  half  his  age.  A  warm  friendship  imme- 
diately sprang  up.  It  reacted  powerfully  upon 
Priestley's  work  as  ''a  political  thinker  and  as  a 
natural  philosopher."  In  short,  Franklin  ''made 
Priestley  into  a  man  of  science."  This  intimacy 
between  these  remarkable  men  should  not  escape 
American  students.  Recall  that  positively  fas- 
cinating letter  (1788)  from  Franklin  to  Ben- 
jamin Vaughan,  in  which  occur  these  words: 

Remember    me    affectionately to 

the  honest  heretic  Dr.  Priestley.  I  do  not 
call  him  honest  by  way  of  distinction,  for 
I  think  all  the  heretics  I  have  known  have 
been  virtuous  men.  They  have  the  virtue 
of  Fortitude,  or  they  would  not  venture  to 
own  their  heresy;  and  they  cannot  afford 
to  be  deficient  in  any  of  the  other  virtues, 
as  that  would  give  advantage  to  their 
many  enemies Do  not  how- 
ever mistake  me.     It  is  not  to  my  good 


6  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

friend's  heresy  that  I  impute  his  honesty. 
On  the  contrary  '  tis  his  honesty  that  has 
brought  upon  him  the  character  of  heretic. 

Much  of  Priestley's  thought  was  given  to  re- 
Ugious  matters.  In  Leeds  he  acknowledged 
himself  a  humanitarian,  or 

a  believer  in  the  doctrine  that  Jesus  Christ 
was  in  nature  solely  and  truly  a  man, 
however  highly  exalted  by  God. 

His  home  in  Leeds  adjoined  a  "public  brew 
house."  He  there  amused  himself  w^th  experi- 
ments on  carbon  dioxide  (fixed  air).  Step  by 
step  he  became  strongly  attracted  to  experi- 
mentation. His  means,  however,  forbade  the 
purchase  of  apparatus  and  he  was  obliged  to 
devise  the  same  and  also  to  think  out  his  own 
methods  of  attack.  Naturally,  his  apparatus 
was  simple.  He  loved  to  repeat  experiments, 
thus  insuring  their  accuracy. 

In  1772  he  pubhshed  his  first  paper  on  Pneuma- 
tic Chemistry.  It  told  of  the  impregnation  of 
water  with  carbon  dioxide.  It  attracted  attention 
and  was  translated  into  French.  This  soda-water 
paper  won  for  Priestley  the  Copley  medal  (1773). 
While  thus  signally  honored  he  continued  publish- 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  7 

ing  views  on  theology  and  metaphysics.  These 
made  a  considerable  uproar. 

Then  came  the  memorable  year  of  1774 — the 
birth-year  of  oxygen.  How  many  chemists,  with 
but  two  years  in  the  science,  have  been  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  discover  an  element,  better  still  proba- 
bly the  most  important  of  all  the  elements!  It 
was  certainly  a  rare  good  fortune!  It  couldn't 
help  but  make  him  the  observed  among  observers. 
This  may  have  occasioned  the  hue  and  cry  against 
his  polemical  essays  on  government  and  church 
to  become  more  frequent  and  in  some  instances 
almost  furious. 

It  was  now  that  he  repaired  to  London.  Here 
he  had  daily  intercourse  with  Franklin,  whose 
encouragement  prompted  him  to  go  bravely 
forward  in  his  adopted  course. 

It  was  in  1780  that  he  took  up  his  residence  in 
Birmingham.  This  was  done  at  the  instance  of 
his  brother-in-law.  The  atmosphere  was  most 
congenial  and  friendly.  Then,  he  was  most 
desirous  of  resuming  his  ministerial  duties; 
further,  he  would  have  near  at  hand  good  workmen 
to  aid  him  in  the  preparation  of  apparatus  for  his 
philosophical  pursuits.  Best  of  all  his  friends 
were  there,  including  those  devoted  to  science. 
Faujar  St.  Fond,  a  French  geologist  has  recorded 
a  visit  to  Priestley — 


8  PRIESTLEY   IN    AMERICA 

Dr.  Priestley  received  me  with  the  greatest 
kindness  .  .  .  The  building  in  which  Dr. 
Priestley  made  his  chemical  and  philoso- 
phical experiments  was  detached  from  his 
house  to  avoid  the  danger  of  fire.  It 
consisted  of  several  apartments  on  the 
ground  floor.  Upon  entering  it  we  were 
struck  with  a  simple  and  ingenious  appar- 
atus for  making  experiments  on  inflamma- 
ble gas  extracted  from  iron  and  water 
reduced  to  vapour. 

If,  only,  all  the  time  of  Dr.  Priestley  in  Birming- 
ham had  been  devoted  to  science,  but  alas,  his 
'' beloved  theology"  claimed  much  of  it.  He 
would  enter  into  controversy — he  would  dissent, 
and  the  awful  hour  was  advancing  by  leaps  and 
bounds.     The  storm  was  approaching. 

It  burst  forth  with  fury  in  1791.  The  houses  of 
worship,  in  which  he  was  wont  to  officiate,  were 
the  first  to  meet  destruction,  then  followed  his  own 
house  in  which  were  assembled  his  literary 
treasures  and  the  apparatus  he  had  constructed 
and  gathered  with  pains,  sacrifice  and  extreme 
effort.  Its  demolition  filled  his  very  soul  with 
deepest  sorrow.  Close  at  hand,  the  writer  has  a 
neat  little  chemical  balance.  It  was  brought  to 
this  country  by  Priestley,  and  tradition  has  it, 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  9 

that  it  was  among  the  pieces  of  the  celebrated 
collection  of  chemical  utensils  rescued  from  the 
hands  of  the  infuriated  mob  which  sought  even 
the  life  of  Priestley,  who  fortunately  had  been 
spirited  or  hidden  away  by  loyal,  devoted  friends 
and  admirers.  In  time  he  ventured  forth  into 
the  open  and  journeyed  to  London,  and  when  qujet 
was  completely  restored,  he  returned  to  one  of  his 
early  fields  of  activity,  but  wisdom  and  the  calm 
judgment  of  friends  decided  this  as  unwise. 
Through  it  all  Priestley  was  quiet  and  philosoph- 
ical, which  is  evident  from  the  following  story: 

A  friend  called  on  him  soon  after  the  riots 
and  condoled  with  him  for  his  loss  in  gene- 
ral, then  mentioned  the  destruction  of  his 
books  as  an  object  of  particular  regret. 
Priestley  answered,  ''I  should  have  read  my 
books  to  little  purpose  if  they  had  not, 
taught  me  to  bear  the  loss  of  them  with 
composure  and  resignation." 

But  the  iron  had  entered  his  soul.  He  could  not 
believe  that  in  his  own  England  any  man  would  be 
treated  as  he  had  been  treated.  His  country  was 
dear  to  him.  He  prized  it  beyond  expression,  but 
he  could  not  hope  for  the  peace  his  heart  craved. 
His  family  circle  was  broken,  two  of  his  sons  hav- 


lO  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

ing  come  to  America,  so  in  the  end,  deeply  con- 
cerned for  his  Ufe-companion's  comfort,  the 
decision  to  emigrate  was  reached,  and  their  faces 
were  turned  to  the  West. 

In  reviewing  the  history  of  chemistry  the  remark 
is  frequently  heard  that  one  blotch  on  the  fair 
escutcheon  of  French  science  was  placed  there 
when  the  remorseless  guillotine  ushered  Lavoisier 
into  eternity.  Was  not  the  British  escutcheon  of 
science  dimmed  when  Priestley  passed  into  exile? 
Priestley — who  had  wrought  so  splendidly  I  And 
yet  we  should  not  be  too  severe,  for  an  illustrious  i 

name— Count  Rumford — which  should  have  been  1 

ours — was  lost  to  us  by  influences  not  wholly 
unlike  those  which  gained  us  Priestley.     Benjamin  \ 

Thompson,  early  in  life  abandoned  a  home  and  a 
country  which  his  fellow  citizens  had  made  intoler-  , 

able.  I 

.     Read  Priestley's  volumes  on  Air  and  on   Na-    .        i 
tural  Philosophy.     They   are   classics.     All  con-  ! 

versant    with     their    contents    agree    that    the  ; 

experimental  work  was  marvelous.    Priestley's  dis-  • 

covery  of  oxygen  was  epoch-making,   but  does  | 

not  represent  all  that  he  did.     Twice  he  just  es-  j 

caped  the  discovery  of  nitrogen.     One  wonders  ; 

how   this   occurred.     He   had   it  in  hand.     The  j 

other  numerous  observations  made  by  him  ante-  1 

date  his  American  life  and  need  not  be  mentioned  i 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  II 

here.  They  alone  would  have  given  him  a  per- 
manent and  honorable  rank  in  the  history  of 
chemistry.  Students  of  the  science  should  re- 
serve judgment  of  Priestley  until  they  have  fami- 
liarized themselves  with  all  his  contributions, 
still  accessible  in  early  periodicals.  When  that 
has  been  done,  the  loss  to  English  science,  by 
Priestley's  departure  to  another  clime  will  be 
apparent. 

His  dearest  friends  would  have  held  him  with 
them.  Not  every  man's  hand  was  against  him — 
on  the  contrary,  numerous  were  those,  even 
among  the  opponents  of  his  political  and  theolog- 
ical utterances,  who  hoped  that  he  would  not 
desert    them.     They    regretted    that    he    had — 

turned  his  attention  too  much  from  the  lu- 
minous field  of  philosophic  disquisition 
to  the  sterile  regions  of  polemic  divinity, 
and  the  still  more  thorny  paths  of  polemic 
politics   .    .    . 

from  which  the  hope  was  cherished  that  he  would 
recede  and  devote  all  his  might  to  philosophical 
pursuits. 

A  very  considerable  number  ...  of  en- 
lightened   inhabitants,    convinced    of    his 


12  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

integrity  as  a  man,  sincerity  as  a  preacher, 
and  superlative  merit  as  a  philosopher, 
were  his  strenuous  advocates  and  ad- 
mirers. 

But  the  die  had  been  cast,  and  to  America  he 
sailed  on  April  8,  1794,  in  the  good  ship  Sansom, 
Capt.  Smith,  with  a  hundred  others — his  fellow 
passengers.  Whilst  on  the  seas  his  great  prota- 
gonist Lavoisier  met  his  death  on  the  scaffold. 

Such  was  the  treatment  bestowed  upon  the 
best  of  their  citizens  by  two  nations  which 
considered  themselves  as  without  exception 
the  most  civilized  and  enlightened  in  the 
world! 

It  is  quite  natural  to  query  how  the  grand  old 
scientist  busied  himself  on  this  voyage  of  eight 
weeks  and  a  day.  The  answer  is  found  in  his  own 
words : 

I  read  the  whole  of  the  Greek  Testament,  and 
the  Hebrew  bible  as  far  as  the  first  Book 
of  Samuel:  also  Ovid's  Metamorphoses, 
Buchanan's  poems,  Erasmus'  Dialogues, 
also  Peter  Pindar's  poems,  &c.    .    .    .   and 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  1 3 

to  amuse  myself  I  tried  the  heat  of  the 
water  at  different  depths,  and  made  other 
observations,  which  suggest  various  experi- 
ments, which  I  shall  prosecute  whenever  I 
get  my  apparatus  at  liberty. 

The  Doctor  was  quite  sea-sick,  and  at  times  sad, 
but  uplifted  when  his  eyes  beheld  the  proofs  of 
friendship  among  those  he  was  leaving  behind. 
Thus  he  must  have  smiled  benignantly  on  behold- 
ing the 

elegant  Silver  Inkstand,  with  the  following 
inscription,  presented  ...  by  three 
young  Gentlemen  of  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge: 

''To  Joseph  Priestley,  LL.D.  &c.  on  his 
departure  into  Exile,  from  a  few 
members  of  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge, who  regret  that  expression  of 
their  Esteem  should  be  occasioned  by 
the  ingratitude  of  their  Country." 

And,  surely,  he  must  have  taken  renewed  cour- 
age on  perusing  the  valedictory  message  received 
from  the  Society  of  United  Irishmen  of  Dublin : 


14  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

Sir, 
SUFFER  a  Society  which  has  been  caluminated 
as  devoid  of  all  sense  of  religion,  law  or 
morality,  to  sympathize  with  one  whom 
calumny  of  a  similar  kind  is  about  to  drive 
from  his  native  land,  a  land  which  he  has 
adorned  and  enhghtened  in  almost  every 
branch  of  Hberal  literature,  and  of  useful 
philosophy.  The  emigration  of  Dr.  Priest- 
ley will  form  a  striking  historical  fact, 
by  which  alone,  future  ages  will  learn  to 
estimate  truly  the  temper  of  the  present 
time.  Your  departure  will  not  only  give 
evidence  of  the  injury  which  philosophy 
and  Hterature  have  received  in  your  person, 
but  will  prove  the  accumulation  of  petty 
disquietudes,  which  has  robbed  your  Hfe 
of  its  zest  and  enjoyment,  for,  at  your  age 
no  one  would  wilhngly  embark  on  such  a 
voyage,  and  sure  we  are,  it  was  your  wish 
and  prayer  to  be  buried  in  your  native 
country,  which  contains  the  dust  of  your 
old  friends  Saville,  Price,  Jebb,  and  Fother- 
gill.  But  be  cheerful,  dear  Sir,  you  are 
going  to  a  happier  world — the  world  of 
Washington  and  Frankhn. 
In  idea,  we  accompany  you.  We  stand  near 
you  while  you  are  setting  sail.     We  watch 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  1 5 

your  eyes  that  linger  on  the  white  cliffs  and 
we  hear  the  patriarchal  blessing  which 
your  soul  pours  out  on  the  land  of  your 
nativity,  the  aspiration  that  ascends  to 
God  for  its  peace,  its  freedom  and  its 
prosperity.  Again,  do  we  participate  in 
your  feelings  on  first  beholding  Nature  in 
her  noblest  scenes  and  grandest  features, 
on  finding  man  busied  in  rendering  himself 
worthy  of  Nature,  but  more  than  all,  on 
contemplating  with  philosophic  prescience 
the  coming  period  when  those  vast  inland 
seas  shall  be  shadowed  with  sails,  when  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  Mississippi,  shall  stretch 
forth  their  arms  to  embrace  the  continent 
in  a  great  circle  of  interior  navigation: 
when  the  Pacific  Ocean  shall  pour  into  the 
Atlantic;  when  man  will  become  more 
precious  than  fine  gold,  and  when  his  am- 
bition will  be  to  subdue  the  elements,  not 
to  subjugate  his  fellow-creatures,  to  make 
fire,  water,  earth  and  air  obey  his  bidding, 
but  to  leave  the  poor  ethereal  mind  as  the 

■    sole  thing  in  Nature  free  and  incoercible. 

Happy  indeed  would  it  be  were  men  in  power 
to  recollect  this  quality  of  the  human 
mind.  Suffer  us  to  give  them  an  example 
from  a  science  of  which  you  are  a  mighty 


1 6  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

master,  that  attempts  to  fix  the  element  of 
mind  only  increase  its  activity,  and  that 
to  calculate  what  may  be  from  what  has 
been  is  a  very  dangerous  deceit. — Were  all 
the  saltpetre  in  India  monopolized,  this 
would  only  make  chemical  researches 
more  ardent  and  successful.  The  chalky 
earths  would  be  searched  for  it,  and  nitre 
beds  would  be  made  in  every  cellar  and 
every  stable.  Did  not  that  prove  sufhci- 
ent  the  genius  of  chemistry  would  find  in  a 
new  salt  a  substitute  for  nitre  or  a  power 
superior  to  it.*  It  requires  greater  genius 
than  Mr.  Pitt  seems  to  possess,  to  know 
the  wonderful  resources  of  the  mind, 
when  patriotism  animates  philosophy,  and 
all  the  arts  and  sciences  are  put  under  a 
state  of  requisition,  when  the  attention  of 
a  whole  scientific  people  is  bent  to  multi- 
plying the  means  and  instruments  of  de- 
struction and  when  philosophy  rises  in  a 
mass  to  drive  on  the  wedge  of  war.  A  black 
powder  has  changed  the  military  art,  and  in 
a  great  degree  the  manners  of  mankind. 
Why  may  not  the  same  science  which  pro- 

*Mr.  Berthollet  discovered  that  oxygenated  muriatic  gas, 
received  in  a  ley  of  caustic  potash,  forms  a  chrystallizable 
neutral  salt,  which  detonates  more  strongly  than  nitre. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  1 7 

duced  it,  produce  another  powder  which,  in- 
flamed under  a  certain  compression,  might 
impell  the  air,  so  as  to  shake  down  the 
strongest  towers  and  scatter  destruction. 
But  you  are  going  to  a  country  where  science 
is  turned  to  better  uses.  Your  change  of 
place  will  give  room  for  the  matchless 
activity  of  your  genius ;  and  you  will  take  a 
sublime  pleasure  in  bestowing  on  Britain 
the  benefit  of  your  future  discoveries.  As 
matter  changes  its  form  but  not  a  particle 
is  ever  lost,  so  the  principles  of  virtuous 
minds  are  equally  imperishable;  and  your 
change  of  situation  may  even  render 
truth  more  operative,  knowledge  more 
productive,  and  in  the  event,  liberty  itself 
more  universal.  Wafted  by  the  winds  or 
tossed  by  the  waves,  the  seed  that  is  here 
thrown  out  as  dead,  there  shoots  up  and 
flourishes.  It  is  probable  that  emigration 
to  America  from  the  first  settlement  down- 
ward, has  not  only  served  the  cause  of 
general  liberty,  but  will  eventually  and 
circuitously  serve  it  even  in  Britain.  What 
mighty  events  have  arisen  from  that  germ 
which  might  once  have  beeen  supposed  to 
be  lost  forever  in  the  woods  of  America, 
but  thrown  upon  the  bosom  of  Nature,  the 


1 8  PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA 

breath  of  God  revived  it,  and  the  world 
hath  gathered  its  fruits.  Even  Ireland 
has  contributed  her  share  to  the  liberties 
of  America;  and  while  purblind  statesmen 
were  happy  to  get  rid  of  the  stubborn 
Presbyterians  of  the  North,  they  little 
thought  that  they  were  serving  a  good 
cause  in  another  quarter.- — ^Yes!  the  Volun- 
teers of  Ireland  still  live — they  live  across 
the  Atlantic.  Let  this  idea  animate  us  in 
our  sufferings,  and  may  the  pure  principles 
and  genuine  lustre  of  the  British  Constitu- 
tion reflected  from  their  Coast,  penetrate 
into  ourselves  and  our  dungeons. 
Farewell — great  and  good  man!  Great  by 
your  mental  powers,  by  your  multiplied 
literary  labours,  but  still  greater  by  those 
household  virtues  which  form  the  only 
solid  security  for  public  conduct  by  those 
mild  and  gentle  qualities,  which  far  from 
being  averse  to,  are  most  frequently  at- 
tended with  severe  and  inflexible  patriot- 
ism, rising  like  an  oak  above  a  modest  man- 
sion.— Farewell — but  before  you  go,  we  be- 
seech a  portion  of  your  parting  prayer  to  the 
author  of  Good  for  Archibald  Hamilton 
Rowan,  the  pupil  of  Jebb,  our  Brother,  now 
suffering  imprisonment,   and  for  all  those 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  1 9 

who  have  suffered,  and  are  about  to  suffer  in 
the  same  cause — the  cause  of  impartial  and 
adequate  representation — the  cause  of  the 
Constitution.  Pray  to  the  best  of  Beings 
for  Muir,  Palmer,  Skirving,  Margarott 
and  Gerald,  who  are  now,  or  will  shortly  be 
crossing,  like  you,  the  bleak  Ocean,  to  a 
barbarous  land! — Pray  that  they  may  be 
animated  with  the  same  spirit,  which  in  the 
days  of  their  fathers,  triumphed  at  the  stake, 
and  shone  in  the  midst  of  flames.  Mel- 
ancholy indeed,  it  is  that  the  mildest  and 
most  humane  of  all  Religions  should  have 
been  so  perverted  as  to  hang  or  burn  men 
in  order  to  keep  them  of  one  faith. 
It  is  equally  melancholy,  that  the  most  de- 
servedly extolled  of  Civil  Constitutions, 
should  recur  to  similar  modes  of  coercion, 
and  that  hanging  and  burning  are  not  now 
employed,  principally,  because  measures 
apparently  milder  are  considered  as  more 
effectual.  Farewell!  Soon  may  you  em- 
brace your  sons  on  the  American  shore, 
and  Washington  take  you  by  the  hand,  and 
the  shade  of  Franklin  look  down  with  calm 
delight  on  the  first  statesman  of  the  age 
extending  his  protection  to  its  first  philoso- 
pher. 


20  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

And  how  interestedly  did  America  anticipate 
the  arrival  of  the  world  renowned  philosopher  is 
in  a  measure  foreshadowed  by  the  following  ex- 
cerpt from  the  American  Daily  Advertiser  for 
Thursday,  June  5, 1794: 

Dr.  Priestley,  with  about  one  hundred  other 
passengers,  are  on  board  the  Sansom,  which 
may  be  hourly  expected. 

In  an  editorial  of  the  same  paper,  printed  about 
the  same  date,  there  appeared  the  following 
tribute : 

It  must  afford  the  most  sincere  gratification 
to  every  well  wisher  to  the  rights  of  man, 
that  the  United  States  of  America,  the 
land  of  freedom  and  independence,  has 
become  the  asylum  of  the  greatest  charac- 
ters of  the  present  age,  who  have  been 
persecuted  in  Europe,  merely  because  they 
have  defended  the  rights  of  the  enslaved 
nations. 

The  name  of  Joseph  Priestley  wdll  be  long 
remembered  among  all  enlightened  people; 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that  England  will 
one  day  regret  her  ungrateful  treatment  to 
this  venerable  and  illustrious  man.     His 


PRIESTLEY   IN    AMERICA  21 

persecutions  in  England  have  presented  to 
him  the  American  Republic  as  a  safe  and 
honourable  retreat  in  his  declining  years; 
and  his  arrival  in  this  City  calls  upon  us 
to  testify  our  respect  and  esteem  for  a  man 
whose  whole  life  has  been  devoted  to  the 
sacred  duty  of  diffusing  knowledge  and 
happiness  among  nations. 
The  citizens  of  united  America  know  well  the 
honourable  distinction  that  is  due  to  virtue 
and  talents ;  and  while  they  cherish  in  their 
hearts  the  memory  of  Dr.  Franklin,  as  a 
philosopher,  they  will  be  proud  to  rank 
among  the  list  of  their  illustrious  fellow 
citizens,  the  name  of  Dr.  Priestley. 

.  Quietly  but  with  great  inward  rejoicing  were 
the  travel- worn  voyagers — the  Doctor  and  his 
wife — received  on  the  evening  of  June  4,  1794,  at 
the  old  Battery  in  New  York,  by  their  son  Joseph 
and  his  wife,  who  had  long  awaited  them,  and  now 
conducted  them  to  a  nearby  lodging  house,  which 
had  been  the  head-quarters  of  Generals  Howe  and 
Clinton. 

On  the  following  morning  the  Priestleys  were 
visited  by  Governor  Clinton,  Dr.  Prevost,  Bishop 
of  New  York  and  most  of  the  principal  merchants, 
and  deputations  of  corporate  bodies  and  Societies, 


2  2  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

bringing  addresses  of  welcome.  Thus,  among  the 
very  first  to  present  their  sympathetic  welcome  was 
the  Democratic  Society  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
which  in  the  address  of  its  President,  Mr.  James 
Nicholson,  made  June  7,  1794,  said: 

Sir, 
WE  are  appointed  by  the  Democratic  So- 
ciety of  the  City  of  New  York,  a  Com- 
mittee to  congratulate  you  on  your  arri- 
val in  this  country:  And  we  feel  the  most 
lively  pleasure  in  bidding  you  a  hearty 
welcome  to  these  shores  of  Liberty  and 
EquaHty. 
While  the  arm  of  Tyranny  is  extended  in 
most  of  the  nations  of  the  world,  to  crush 
the  spirit  of  liberty,  and  bind  in  chains 
the  bodies  and  minds  of  men,  we  acknowl- 
edge, with  ardent  gratitude  to  the  Great 
Parent  of  the  Universe,  our  singular  felic- 
ity in  living  in  a  land,  where  Reason  has 
successfully  triumphed  over  the  artificial 
distinctions  of  European  policy  and  bigotry, 
and  where  the  law  equally  protects  the 
virtuous  citizen  of  every  description  and 
persuasion. 
On  this  occasion  we  cannot  but  observe,  that 
we  once  esteemed  ourselves  happy  in  the 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  23 

relation  that  subsisted  between  us  and  the 
Government  of  Great  Britain^ — But  the 
multipHed  oppressions  which  characterized 
that  Government,  excite  in  us  the  most 
painful  sensations,  and  exhibit  a  spectacle 
as  disgusting  in  itself,  as  dishonourable  to 
the  British  name. 

The  governments  of  the  old  world  present 
to  us  one  huge  mass  of  intrigue,  corruption 
and  despotism — most  of  them  are  now  base- 
ly combined,  to  prevent  the  establishment 
of  liberty  in  France,  and  to  affect  the  total 
destruction  of  the  rights  of  man.  Under 
these  afflicting  circumstances  we  rejoice 
that  America  opens  her  arms  to  receive, 
with  fraternal  affection,  the  friend  of  li- 
berty and  human  happiness,  and  that  here 
he  may  enjoy  the  best  blessings  of  civilized 
society. 

We  sincerely  sympathize  with  you  in  all  that 
you  have  suffered,  and  we  consider  the 
persecution  with  which  you  have  been 
pursued  by  a  venal  Court  and  an  imperious 
and  uncharitable  priesthood,  as  an  illus- 
trious proof  of  your  personal  merit,  and  a 
lasting  reproach  to  that  Government  from 
the  grasp  of  whose  tyranny  you  are  so 
happily  removed. 


24  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

Accept,  Sir,  of  the  sincere  and  best  wishes 
of  the  Society  whom  we  represent,  for  the 
continuance  of  your  health,  and  the  increase 
of  your  individual  and  domestic  happiness. 

To  which  Priestley  graciously  replied: 

Gentlemen, 
VIEWING  with  the  deepest  concern,  as  you 
do,  the  prospect  that  is  now  exhibited  in 
Europe,  those  troubles  which  are  the  natu- 
ral offspring  of  their  forms  of  government 
originating,  indeed,  in  the  spirit  of  liberty, 
but  gradually  degenerating  in  tyrannies, 
equally  degrading  to  the  rulers  and  the 
ruled,  I  rejoice  in  finding  an  asylum  from 
persecution  in  a  country  in  which  these 
abuses  have  come  to  a  natural  termination, 
and  have  produced  another  system  of  li- 
berty founded  on  such  wise  principles,  as, 
I  trust,  will  guard  it  against  all  future 
abuses;  those  artificial  distinctions  in  so- 
ciety, from  which  they  sprung,  being  com- 
pletely eradicated,  that  protection  from 
violence  which  laws  and  government  pro- 
mise in  all  countries,  but  which  I  have  not 
found  in  my  own,  I  doubt  not  I  shall  find 
with  you,  though,  I  cannot  promise  to  be 
a  better  subject  of  this  government,  than 


PRIESTLEY  IN   AMERICA  25 

my  whole  conduct  will  evince  that  I  have 
been  to  that  of  great  Britain. 
Justly,  however,  as  I  think  I  may  complain 
of  the  treatment  I  have  met  with  in  Eng- 
land I  sincerely  wish  her  prosperity,  and, 
from  the  good  will  I  bear  both  that  country 
and  this  I  ardently  wish  that  all  former 
animosities  may  be  forgotten  and  that  a 
perpetual  friendship  may  subsist  between 
them. 

And  on  Monday,  June,  ii,  1794, having  taken 
the  first  opportunity  to  visit  Priestley,  the  Tam- 
many Society  presented  this  address: 

Sir, 

A  numerous  body  of  freemen  who  associate 
to  cultivate  among  them  the  love  of  liberty 
and  the  enjoyment  of  the  happy  Republican 
government  under  which  they  live  and  who 
for  several  years  have  been  known  in  this 
city,  by  the  name  of  the  Tammany  Society 
have  deputed  us  a  Committee  to  express 
to  you  their  pleasure  and  congratulations 
on  your  safe  arrival  in  this  country. 

Their  venerable  ancestors  escaped,  as  you 
have  done,  from  persecutions  of  intolerance, 


26  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

bigotry  and  despotism,  and  they  would 
deem  themselves,  an  unworthy  progeny 
were  they  not  highly  interested  in  your 
safety  and  happiness. 

It  is  not  alone  because  your  various  useful 
publications  evince  a  life  devoted  to  litera- 
ture and  the  industrious  pursuit  of  knowl- 
edge; not  only  because  your  numerous 
discoveries  in  Nature  are  so  efficient  to  the 
progression  of  human  happiness:  but  they 
have  long  known  you  to  be  the  friend  of 
mankind  and  in  defiance  of  calumny  and 
malice,  an  asserter  of  the  rights  of  consci- 
ence and  the  champion  of  civil  and  religious 
Hberty. 

They  have  learned  with  regret  and  indigna- 
tion the  abandoned  proceedings  of  those 
spoilers  who  destroyed  your  house  and 
goods,  ruined  your  philosophical  apparatus 
and  library,  committed  to  the  flames  your 
manuscripts,  pryed  into  the  secrets  of  your 
private  papers,  and  in  their  barbarian 
fury  put  your  life  itself  in  danger.  They 
heard  you  also  with  exalted  benevolence 
return  unto  them  ''blessings  for  curses:" 
and  while  you  thus  exemplified  the  un- 
daunted integrity  of  the  patriot,  the  mild 
and    forbearing  virtues  of  the  Christian, 


PRIESTLEY  IN   AMERICA  27 

they   hailed   you  victor  in  this  magnani- 
mous triumph  over  your  enemies. 

You  have  fled  from  the  rude  arm  of  violence, 
from  the  flames  of  bigotry,  from  the  rod  of 
of  lawless  power :  and  you  shall  find  refuge 
in  the  bosom  of  freedom,  of  peace,  and  of 
Americans. 

You  have  left  your  native  land,  a  country 
doubtless  ever  dear  to  you — a  country  for 
whose  improvement  in  virtue  and  knowl- 
edge you  have  long  disinterestedly 
laboured,  for  which  its  rewards  are  ingrati- 
tude, injustice  and  banishment.  A  coun- 
try although  now  presenting  a  prospect 
frightful  to  the  eyes  of  humanity,  yet  once 
the  nurse  of  science,  of  arts,  of  heroes,  and 
of  freeman — a  country  which  although  at 
present  apparently  self  devoted  to  destruc- 
tion, we  fondly  hope  may  yet  tread  back 
the  steps  of  infamy  and  ruin,  and  once 
more  rise  conspicuous  among  the  free 
nations  of  the  earth.  In  this  advanced 
period  of  your  life  when  nature  demands 
the  sweets  of  tranquility,  you  have  been 
constrained  to  encounter  the  tempestous 
deep,  to  risk  disappointed  prospects  in  a 
foreign  land,  to  give  up  the  satisfaction  of 
domestic  quiet,  to  tear  yourself  from  the 


28  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

friends  of  your  youth,  from  a  numerous 
acquaintance  who  revere  and  love  you, 
and  will  long  deplore  your  loss. 

We  enter,  Sir,  with  emotion  and  sympathy 
into  the  numerous  sacrifices  you  must  have 
made,  to  an  undertaking  which  so  emi- 
nently exhibits  our  country  as  an  asylum 
for  the  persecuted  and  oppressed,  and  into 
those  regretful  sensibilities  your  heart 
experienced  when  the  shores  of  your  native 
land  were  lessening  to  your  view. 

Alive  to  the  impressions  of  this  occasion  we 
give  you  a  warm  and  hearty  vv^elcome  into 
these  United  States.  We  trust  a  country 
worthy  of  you;  where  Providence  has  un- 
folded a  scene  as  new  as  it  is  august,  as 
felicitating  as  it  is  unexampled.  The 
enjoyment  of  liberty  with  but  one  dis- 
graceful exception,  pervades  every  class  of 
citizens.  A  catholic  and  sincere  spirit  of 
toleration  regulates  society  which  rises  into 
zeal  when  the  sacred  rights  of  humanity  are 
invaded.  And  there  exists  a  sentiment  of 
free  and  candid  inquiry  which  disdains 
shackles  of  tradition,  promising  a  rich 
harvest  of  improvement  and  the  glorious 
triumphs  of  truth.  We  hope.  Sir,  that 
the  Great  Being  whose  laws  and  works  you 


PRIESTLKY  IN  AMERICA  29 

have  made  the  study  of  your  life,  will  smile 
upon  and  bless  you — restore  you  to  every 
domestic  and  philosophical  enjoyment, 
prosper  you  in  every  undertaking,  benefi- 
cial to  mankind,  render  you,  as  you  have 
been  to  your  own,  the  ornament  of  this 
country,  and  crown  you  at  last  with  im- 
mortal felicity  and  honour. 

And  to  this  the  venerable  scientist  was  pleased  to 
say: 

Gentlemen, 

I  think  myself  greatly  honoured,  flying  as  I 
do,  from  ill  treatment  in  my  native  coun- 
try, on  account  of  my  attachment  to  the 
cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  to  be 
received  with  the  congratulations  of  "a 
Society  of  Freemen  associated  to  cultivate 
the  love  of  liberty,  and  the  enjoyment  of 
a  happy  RepubHcan  government."  Hap- 
py would  our  venerable  ancestors,  as  you 
justly  call  them,  have  been,  to  have  found 
America  such  a  retreat  for  them  as  it  is  to 
me,  when  they  were  driven  hither;  but 
happy  has  it  proved  to  me,  and  happy  will 
it  be  for  the  world,  that  in  the  wise  and 
benevolent  order  of  Providence,  abuses  of 


30  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

power  are  ever  destructive  of  itself,  and 
favourable  to  liberty.  Their  strenuous 
exertions  and  yours  now  give  me  that 
asylum  which  at  my  time  of  life  is  peculiarly 
grateful  to  me,  who  only  wish  to  continue 
unmolested  those  pursuits  of  various  litera- 
ture to  which,  without  having  ever  entered 
into  any  political  connexions  my  life  has 
been  devoted. 
I  join  you  in  viewing  with  regret  the  un- 
favourable prospect  of  Great  Britain  form- 
erly, as  you  say,  the  nurse  of  science,  and 
of  freemen,  and  wish  with  you,  that  the 
unhappy  delusion  that  country  is  now 
under  may  soon  vanish,  and  that  whatever 
be  the  form  of  its  government  it  may  vie 
with  this  country  in  everything  that  is 
favourable  to  the  best  interests  of  mankind, 
and  join  with  you  in  removing  that  only 
disgraceful  circumstance,  which  you  justly 
acknowledge  to  be  an  exception  to  the 
enjoyment  of  equal  liberty,  among  your- 
selves. That  the  Great  Being  whose  provi- 
dence extends  alike  to  all  the  human  race, 
and  to  whose  disposal  I  cheerfully  commit 
myself,  may  establish  whatever  is  good, 
and  remove  whatever  is  imperfect  from 
your  government  and  from  every  govern- 


» 


PRIESTLEY    IN   AMERICA  3 1 

ment  in  the  known  world,  is  the  earnest 
prayer  of, 
Gentlemen, 

Your   respectful  humble   servant. 

As  Priestley  had  ever  gloried  in  the  fact  that  he 
was  a  teacher,  what  more  appropriate  in  this 
period  of  congratulatory  welcome,  could  have 
come  to  him  than  the  following  message  of  New 
York's  teaching  body: 

The  associated  Teachers  in  the  city  of  New 
York  beg  leave  to  offer  you  a  sincere  and 
hearty  welcome  to  this  land  of  tranquility 
and  freedom. 

Impressed  with  the  idea  of  the  real  importance 
of  so  valuable  an  acquisition  to  the  growing 
interests  of  science  and  literature,  in  this 
country,  we  are  particularly  happy  that  the 
honour  of  your  first  reception,  has  fallen  to 
this  state,  and  to  the  city  of  New  York. 

As  labourers  in  those  fields  which  you  have 
occupied  with  the  most  distinguished  emi- 
nence, at  the  arduous  and  important  task 
of  cultivating  the  human  mind,  we  con- 
template with  peculiar  satisfaction  the 
auspicious  influence  which  your  personal 


32  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

residence  in  this  country,  will  add  to  that 
of  your  highly  valuable  scientific  and  liter- 
ary productions,  by  which  we  have  already 
been  materially  benefited. 

We  beg  leave  to  anticipate  the  happiness  of 
sharing  in  some  degree,  that  patronage  of 
science  and  literature,  which  it  has  ever  been 
your  delight  to  afford.  This  will  give 
facility  to  our  expressions;  direct  and  en- 
courage us  in  our  arduous  employments; 
assist  us  to  form  the  man,  and  thereby 
give  efficacy  to  the  diffusion  of  useful 
knowledge. 

Our  most  ardent  wishes  attend  you,  good  Sir, 
that  you  may  find  in  this  land  a  virtuous 
simplicity,  a  happy  recess  from  the  intrigu- 
ing politics  and  vitiating  refinements  of  the 
European  world.  That  your  patriotic  vir- 
tues may  add  to  the  vigour  of  our  happy 
Constitution  and  that  the  blessings  of  this 
country  may  be  abundantly  renmnerated 
into  your  person  and  your  family. 

And  we  rejoice  in  believing,  that  the  Parent 
of  Nature,  by  those  secret  communications 
of  happiness  with  which  he  never  fails  to 
reward  the  virtuous  mind,  will  here  convey 
to  you  that  consolation,  support,  and  joy, 
which   are   independent   of   local   circum- 


PRIESTLEY    IN   AMERICA  33 

stances,  and  ''Which  the  world  can  neither 
give  nor  take  away. 


jj 


Touched,  indeed  was  Priestley  by  this  simple, 
outspoken  greeting  from  those  who  appreciated 
his  genuine  interest  in  the  cause  of  education. 
Hence  his  reply  was  in  a  kindred  spirit: 

A  welcome  to  this  country  from  my  fellow 
labourers  in  the  instruction  of  youth,  is,  I 
assure  you,  peculiarly  grateful  to  me. 
Classes  of  men,  as  well  as  individuals,  are 
apt  to  form  too  high  ideas  of  their  own 
importance;  but  certainly  one  of  the  most 
important  is,  that  which  contributes  so 
much  as  ours  do  to  the  cummunication  of 
useful  knowledge,  as  forming  the  characters 
of  men,  thereby  fitting  them  for  their  several 
stations  in  society.  In  some  form  or  other 
this  has  been  my  employment  and  delight; 
and  my  principal  object  in  flying  for  an 
asylum  to  this  country,  "a  land, "  as  I  hope 
you  justly  term  it,  ''of  virtuous  simplicity, 
and  a  recess  from  the  intriguing  politics, 
and  vicious  refinements  of  the  European 
world,"  is  that  I  may,  without  molestation, 
pursue  my  favourite  studies.  And  if  I 
had  an  opportunity  of  making  choice  of  an 


34  PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA 

employment  for  what  remains  of  active 
exertion  in  life,  it  would  be  one  in  which  I 
should  as  I  hope  I  have  hitherto  done, 
contribute  with  you,  to  advance  the  cause 
of  science,  of  virtue,  and  of  religion. 

Further,  The  Medical  Society  of  the  State  of 
New  York  through  Dr.  John  Charlton,  its  Presi- 
dent, said: 

PERMIT  us.  Sir,  to  wait  upon  you  with  an 
offering  of  our  sincere  congratulations,  on 
your  safe  arrival,  with  your  lady  and  family 
in  this  happy  country,  and  to  express  our 
real  joy,  in  receiving  among  us,  a  gentleman, 
whose  labours  have  contributed  so  much  to 
the  diffusion  and  establishment  of  civil 
and  religious  liberty,  and  whose  deep  re- 
searches into  the  true  principles  of  natural 
philosophy,  have  derived  so  much  improve- 
ment and  real  benefit,  not  only  to  the 
sciences  of  chemistry  and  medicine,  but  to 
various  other  arts,  all  of  which  are  necessary 
to  the  ornament  and  utility  of  human  life. 

May  you,  Sir,  possess  and  enjoy,  here,  un- 
interrupted contentment  and  happiness, 
and  may  your  valuable  life  be  continued  a 
farther  blessing  to  mankind. 


PRIESTLEY    IN   AMERICA  35 

And  in  his  answer  Dr.  Priestley  remarked: 

I  THINK  myself  greatly  honoured  in  being 
congratulated  on  my  arrival  in  this  country 
by  a  Society  of  persons  whose  studies  bear 
some  relation  to  my  own.  To  continue, 
without  fear  of  molestation,  on  account  of 
the  most  open  profession  of  any  sentiments, 
civil  or  religious,  those  pursuits  which  you 
are  sensible  have  for  their  object  the  ad- 
vantage of  all  mankind,  (being,  as  you 
justly  observe,  "necessary  to  the  ornament 
and  utility  of  human  life")  is  my  principal 
motive  for  leaving  a  country  in  which  that 
tranquility  and  sense  of  security  which 
scientificial  pursuits  require,  cannot  be  had; 
and  I  am  happy  to  find  here,  persons  who 
are  engaged  in  the  same  pursuits,  and  who 
have  the  just  sense  that  you  discover  of 
their  truly  enviable  situation. 

As  a  climax  to  greetings  extended  in  the  City 
of  New  York,  The  Republican  Natives  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  resident  in  that  city  said, 

WE,  the  Republican  natives  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  resident  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  embrace,  with  the  highest  satisfac- 


36  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

tion,  the  opportunity  which  your  arrival 
in  this  city  presents,  of  bearing  our  testi- 
mony to  your  character  and  virtue  and  of 
expressing  our  joy  that  you  come  among  us 
in  circumstances  of  such  good  health  and 
spirits. 

We  have  beheld  with  the  keenest  sensi- 
bility, the  unparallelled  persecutions  which 
attended  you  in  your  native  country,  and 
have  sympathized  with  you  under  all 
their  variety  and  extent.  In  the  firm 
hope,  that  you  are  now  completely  re- 
moved from  the  effects  of  every  species  of 
intolerance,  we  most  sincerely  congratulate 
you. 

After  a  fruitless  opposition  to  a  corrupt  and 
tyrannical  government,  many  of  us  have, 
like  you,  sought  freedom  and  protection 
in  the  United  States  of  America;  but  to 
this  we  have  all  been  principally  induced, 
from  the  full  persuasion,  that  a  republican 
representative  government,  was  not  merely 
best  adapted  to  promote  human  happiness, 
but  that  it  is  the  only  rational  system 
worthy  the  wisdom  of  man  to  project,  or 
to  which  his  reason  should  assent. 

Participating  in  the  many  blessings  which  the 
government  of  this  country  is  calculated  to 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  37 

insure,  we  are  happy  in  giving  it  this  proof 
of  our  respectful  attachment : — We  are  only 
grieved,  that  a  system  of  such  beauty  and 
excellence,  should  be  at  all  tarnished  by  the 
existence  of  slavery  in  any  form;  but  as 
friends  to  the  Equal  Rights  of  Man,  we 
must  be  permitted  to  say,  that  we  wish 
these  Rights  extended  to  every  human 
being,  be  his  complexion  what  it  may.  We, 
however,  look  forward  with  pleasing  antici- 
pation to  a  yet  more  perfect  state  of 
society;  and,  from  that  love  of  liberty 
which  forms  so  distinguishing  a  trait  in 
American  character,  are  taught  to  hope 
that  this  last — this  worse  disgrace  to  a  free 
government,  will  finally  and  forever  be 
done  away. 
While  we  look  back  on  our  native  country 
with  emotions  of  pity  and  indignation  at 
the  outrages  which  humanity  has  sustained 
in  the  persons  of  the  virtuous  Muir,  and  his 
patriotic  associates;  and  deeply  lament  the 
fatal  apathy  into  which  our  countrymen 
have  fallen;  we  desire  to  be  thankful  to 
the  Great  Author  of  our  being  that  we  are 
in  America,  and  that  it  has  pleased  Him,  in 
his  Wise  Providence,  to  make  the  United 
States  an  asylum  not  only  from  the  immedi- 


38  PRIESTLEY    IN   AMERICA 

ate  tyranny  of  the  British  Government, 
but  also  from  those  impending  calamities, 
which  its  increasing  despotism  and  multi- 
plied iniquities,  must  infallibly  bring 
down  on  a  deluded  and  oppressed  people. 
Accept,  Sir,  of  our  affectionate  and  best 
wishes  for  a  long  continuance  of  your 
health  and  happiness. 

The   answer  of   the   aged  philosopher   to   this 
address  was: 

I  think  myself  pecuHarly  happy  in  finding  in 
this  country  so  many  persons  of  sentiments 
similar  to  my  ow^n,  some  of  whom  have 
probably  left  Great  Britain  or  Ireland  on 
the  same  account,  and  to  be  so  cheerfully 
welcomed  by  them  on  my  arrival.  You 
have  already  had  experience  of  the  dif- 
ference between  the  governments  of  the 
two  countries,  and  I  doubt  not,  have  seen 
sufficient  reason  to  give  the  decided  pre- 
ference that  you  do  to  that  of  this.  There 
all  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press  as  far 
as  politics  are  concerned,  is  at  an  end,  and  a 
spirit  of  intolerance  in  matters  of  religion 
is  almost  as  high  as  in  the  time  of  the 


PRIESTLEY    IN   AMERICA  39 

Stuarts.  Here,  having  no  countenance 
from  government,  whatever  may  remain  of 
this  spirit,  from  the  ignorance  and  conse- 
quent bigotry,  of  former  times,  it  may  be 
expected  soon  to  die  away;  and  on  all 
subjects  whatever,  every  man  enjoys  in- 
valuable liberty  of  speaking  and  writing 
whatever  he  pleases. 

The  wisdom  and  happiness  of  Republican 
governments  and  the  evils  resulting  from 
hereditary  monarchical  ones,  cannot  appear 
in  a  stronger  light  to  you  than  they  do  to 
me.  We  need  only  look  to  the  present 
state  of  Europe  and  of  America,  to  be  fully 
satisfied  in  this  respect.  The  former  will 
easily  reform  themselves,  and  among  other 
improvements,  I  am  persuaded,  will  be  the 
removal  of  that  vestige  of  servitude  to 
which  you  allude,  as  it  so  ill  accords  with 
the  spirit  of  equal  liberty,  from  which 
the  rest  of  the  system  has  flowed;  whereas 
no  material  reformation  of  the  many  abuses 
to  which  the  latter  are  subject,  it  is  to  be 
feared,  can  be  made  without  violence  and 
confusion. 

I  congratulate  you,  gentlemen,  as  you  do  me, 
on  our  arrival  in  a  country  in  which  men 
who  wish  well  to  their  fellow  citizens,  and 


40  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

use  their  best  endeavours  to  render  them 
the  most  important  services,  men  who  are  an 
honour  to  human  nature  and  to  any  coun- 
try, are  in  no  danger  of  being  treated  hke 
the  worst  felons,   as  is  now  the   case  in 
Great  Britain. 
Happy  should  I  think  myself  in  joining  with 
you  in  welcoming  to  this  country  every 
friend  of  liberty,  who  is  exposed  to  danger 
from  the  tyranny  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment, and  who,  while  they  continue  under 
it,  must  expect  to  share  in  those  calamities, 
which  its  present  infatuation  must,  sooner 
or  later,  bring  upon  it.     But  let  us  all  join 
in  supplications  to  the  Great  Parent  of  the 
Universe,  that  for  the  sake  of  the  many  ex- 
cellent characters  in  our  native  country  its 
government  may  be  reformed,  and  the  judg- 
ments impending  over  it  prevented. 

The  hearty  reception  accorded  Dr.  Priestley 
met  in  due  course  with  a  cruel  attack  upon  him  by 
William  Cobbett,  known  under  the  pen-name  of 
Peter  Porcupine,  an  Englishman,  who  after  arri- 
val in  this  country  enjoyed  a  rather  prosperous 
life  by  formulating  scurrilous  literature — attacks 
upon  men  of  prominence,  stars  shining  brightly 
in  the  human  firmament. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  41 

An  old  paper,  the  Argus,  for  the  year  1796,  said 
of  this  Peter  Porcupine: 

When  this  poKtical  caterpillar  was  crawling 
about  at  St.  John's,  Nova  Scotia,  in  support 
of  his  Britannic  Majesty's  glorious  cause, 
against  the  United  States,  and  holding  the 
rank  of  serjeant  major  in  the  54th  regiment, 
then  quartered  in  that  land,  "flowing  with 
milk  and  honey,"  and  GRINDSTONES, 
and  commanded  by  Colonel  Bruce;  it  was 
customary  for  some  of  the  officers  to  hire 
out  the  soldiers  to  the  country  people,  in- 
stead of  keeping  them  to  military  duty, 
and  to  pocket  the  money  themselves. 
Peter  found  he  could  make  a  speck  out  of 
this,  and  therefore  kept  a  watchful  eye 
over  the  sins  of  his  superiors.  When  the 
regiment  was  recalled  and  had  returned  to 
England — Peter,  brimful  of  amor  patriae, 
was  about  to  prefer  a  complaint  against  the 
officers,  when  they  came  down  with  a 
round  sum  of  the  ready  rino,  and  a  promise 
of  his  discharge,  in  case  of  secrecy. — This 
so  staggered  our  incorruptible  and  inde- 
pendent hero  and  quill  driver,  that  he 
agreed  to  the  terms,  received  that  very 
honorable    discharge,    mentioned    with    so 


42  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

much  emphasis,  in  the  history  of  his  im- 
portant Ufe — got  cash  enough  to  come  to 
America,  by  circuitous  route  and  to  set 
himself  up  with  the  necessary  implements 
of  scandal  and  abuse. 

This  flea,  this  spider,  this  corporal,  has  dared 
to  point  his  impotent  spleen  at  the  memory 
of  that  illustrious  patriot,  statesman  and 
philosopher,  Benjamin  Franklin. 

Let  the  buzzing  insect  reflect  on  this  truth — 
that 

"Succeeding  times  great  Frankhn's  works 
shall  quote, 
"When  'tis  forgot — this  Peter  ever  wrote." 

And  the  Advertiser  declared: 

Peter  Porcupine  is  one  of  those  writers  who 
attempt  to  deal  in  wit — and  to  bear  down 
every  Republican  principle  by  satire — but 
he  miserably  fails  in  both,  for  his  wit  is  as 
stale  as  his  satire,  and  his  satire  as  insipid 
as  his  wit.  He  attempts  to  ridicule  Dr. 
Franklin,  but  can  any  man  of  sense  conceive 
any  poignancy  in  styling  this  great  philoso- 
pher, "poor  Richard,"  or  "the  old  light- 
ning rod."  Franklin,  whose  researches  in 
philosophy    have    placed    him  preeminent 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  43 

among  the  first  characters  in  this  country, 
or  in  Europe:  is  it  possible  then  that  such 
a  contemptible  wretch  as  Peter  Porcupine, 
(who  never  gave  any  specimen  of  his  philo- 
sophy, but  in  bearing  with  Christian  pati- 
ence a  severe  whipping  at  the  public  post) 
can  injure  the  exalted  reputation  of  this 
great  philosopher?  The  folly  of  the  Editor 
of  the  Centinal,  is  the  more  conspicuous, 
in  inserting  his  billingsgate  abuse  in  a 
Boston  paper,  when  this  town,  particularly 
the  TRADESMAN  of  it  are  reaping  such 
advantages  from  Franklin's  liberality.  The 
Editor  of  the  Centinal  ought  to  blush  for 
his  arrogance  in  vilifying  this  TRADES- 
MEN'S FRIEND,  by  retailing  the  scur- 
rility of  so  wretched  a  puppy  as  Peter 
Porcupine. 

As  to  Dr.  Priestley,  the  Editor  was  obliged  to 
apologise  in  this  particular — but  colours 
it  over  as  the  effusions  of  genius^ — poor 
apology,  indeed  to  stain  his  columns  with 
scurrility  and  abuse,  and  after  finding  the 
impression  too  notoriously  infamous,  at- 
tempts to  qualify  it,  sycophantic  paren- 
thesis. 

The  names  of  Franklin  and  Priestley  will  be 
enrolled  in  the  catalogue  of  worthies,  while 


44  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

the  wretched  Peter  Porcupine,  and  his 
more  wretched  supporters,  will  sink  into 
obHvion,  unless  the  register  of  Newgate 
should  be  published,  and  their  memories  be 
raked  from  the  loathsome  rubbish  as 
spectres  of  universal  destestation. 

And  the  London  Monthly  Review  (August  lo, 
1796)  commented  as  follows  on  Porcupine's  ani- 
madversions upon  Priestley: 

Frequently  as  we  have  differed  in  opinion 
from  Dr.  Priestley,  we  should  think  it  an 
act  of  injustice  to  his  merit,  not  to  say  that 
the  numerous  and  important  services 
which  he  has  rendered  to  science,  and  the 
unequivocal  proofs  which  he  has  given  of  at 
least  honest  intention  towards  religion  and 
Christianity  ought  to  have  protected  him 
from  such  gross  insults  as  are  poured  upon 
him  in  this  pamphlet.  Of  the  author's 
literary  talent,  we  shall  say  but  little:  the 
phrases,  "setting  down  to  count  the  cost" 
— "the  rights  of  the  man  the  greatest 
bore  in  nature" — the  appellation  of  rigma- 
role ramble,  given  to  a  correct  sentence  of 
Dr.  Priestley — which  the  author  attempts 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  45 

to  criticise — may  serve  as  specimens  of  his 
language. 
The  pitiful  attempt  at  wit,  in  his  vulgar  fable 
of  the  pitcher  haranguing  the  pans  and 
jordans,  will  give  him  little  credit  as  a 
writer,  with  readers  of  an  elegant  taste. — 
No  censure,  however,  can  be  too  severe  for 
a  writer  who  suffers  the  rancour  of  party 
spirit  to  carry  him  so  far  beyond  the 
bounds  of  justice,  truth  and  decency,  as  to 
speak  of  Dr.  Priestley  as  an  admirer  of  the 
massacres  of  France,  and  who  would  have 
wished  to  have  seen  the  town  of  Birming- 
ham like  that  of  Lyons,  razed,  and  all  its 
industrious  and  loyal  inhabitants  butchered 
as  a  man  whose  conduct  proves  that  he 
has  either  an  understanding  little  superior 
to  that  of  an  idiot,  or  the  heart  of  Marat: 
in  short,  as  a  man  who  fled  into  banishment 
covered  with  the  universal  destestation 
of  his  countrymen.  The  spirit,  which 
could  dictate  such  outrageous  abuse,  must 
disgrace  any  individual  and  any  party. 

Even  before  Porcupine  began  his  abuse  of 
Priestley,  there  appeared  efforts  intended  no  doubt 
to  arouse  opposition  to  him  and  dislike  for  him. 
One  such,  apparently  very  innocent  in  its  purpose, 


46  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

appeared  shortly  after  Priestley's  settlement  in 
Northumberland.  It  may  be  seen  in  the  Adverti- 
ser, and  reads  thus: 

The  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ  proved  in  a 
publication  to  be  sold  by  Francis  Bayley  in 
Market  Street,  between  3rd  and  4th  Streets, 
at  the  sign  of  the  Yorick^s  Head — being  a 
reply  to  Dr.  Joseph  Priestley's  appeal  to 
the  serious  and  candid  professors  of 
Christianity. 

The  New  York  addresses  clearly  indicated  the 
generous  sympathy  of  hosts  of  Ameiicans  for 
Priestley.  They  were  not  perfunctory,  but  genu- 
inely genuine.  This  brought  joy  to  the  dis- 
tinguished emigrant,  and  a  sense  of  fellowship, 
accompanied  by  a  feeling  of  security. 

More  than  a  century  has  passed  since  these 
occurrences,  and  the  reader  of  today  is  scarcely 
stirred  by  their  declarations  and  appeals. 
Changes  have  come,  in  the  past  century,  on  both 
sides  of  the  great  ocean.  Almost  everywhere 
reigns  the  freedom  so  devoutly  desired  by  the 
fathers  of  the  long  ago.  It  is  so  universal  that  it 
does  not  come  as  a  first  thought.  Other  changes, 
once  constantly  on  men's  minds  have  gradually 
been  made. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  47 

How  wonderful  has  been  the  development  of 
New  York  since  Priestley's  brief  sojourn  in  it. 
How  marvelously  science  has  grown  in  the  great 
interim.  What  would  Priestley  say  could  he  now 
pass  up  and  down  the  famous  avenues  of  our 
greatest  City? 

His  decision  to  live  in  America,  his  labors  for 
science  in  this  land,  have  had  a  share  in  the  as- 
tounding unfolding  of  the  dynamical  possibilities 
of  America's  greatest  municipality. 

The  Priestley s  were  delighted  with  New  York. 
They  were  frequent  dinner  guests  of  Governor 
Clinton,  whom  they  liked  very  much  and  saw 
often,  and  they  met  with  pleasure  Dr.  Samuel  L. 
Mitchill,  the  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  Columbia. 

Amidst  the  endless  fetes,  attendant  upon  their 
arrival,  there  existed  a  desire  to  go  forward.  The 
entire  family  were  eager  to  arrive  at  their  real 
resting  place — the  home  prepared  by  the  sons 
who  had  preceded  them  to  this  Western  world. 
Accordingly,  on  June  i8,  1794,  they  left  New 
York,  after  a  fortnight's  visit,  and  the  Advertiser 
of  Philadelphia,  June  21,  1794,  contained  these 
lines: 

Last  Thursday  evening  arrived  in  town  from 
New  York  the  justly  celebrated  philoso- 
pher Dr.  Joseph  Priestley. 


48  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

Thus  was  heralded  his  presence  in  the  City  of  his 
esteemed,  honored  friend,  Frankhn,  who,  alas!  was 
then  in  the  spirit  land,  and  not  able  to  greet  him 
as  he  would  have  done  had  he  still  been  a  living 
force  in  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love.  However,  a 
very  prompt  welcome  came  from  the  American 
Philosophical  Society,  founded  (1727)  by  the 
immortal  savant,  Franklin. 

The  President  of  this  venerable  Society,  the 
oldest  scientific  Society  in  the  Western  hemis- 
phere, w^as  the  renowned  astronomer,  David 
Rittenhouse,  who  said  for  himself  and  his 
associates: 

THE  American  Philosophical  Society,  held 
at  Philadelphia  for  promoting  useful  knowl- 
edge, offer  you  their  sincere  congratulations 
on  your  safe  arrival  in  this  country.  As- 
sociated for  the  purposes  of  extending  and 
disseminating  those  improvements  in  the 
sciences  and  the  arts,  which  most  conduce 
to  substantial  happiness  of  Man,  the 
Society  felicitate  themselves  and  their 
country,  that  your  talents  and  virtues, 
have  been  transferred  to  this  Republic. 
Considering  you  as  an  illustrious  member 
of  this  institution :  Your  colleagues  antici- 
pate your  aid,  in  zealously  promoting  the 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  49 

objects  which  unite  them;  as  a  virtuous 
man,  possessing  eminent  and  useful  ac- 
quirements, they  contemplate  with  pleas- 
ure the  accession  of  such  worth  to  the 
American  Commonwealth,  and  looking 
forward  to  your  future  character  of  a 
citizen  of  this,  your  adopted  country,  they 
rejoice  in  greeting,  as  such,  an  enlightened 
Republican. 

In  this  free  and  happy  country,  those 
unaUenable  rights,  which  the  Author  of 
Nature  committed  to  man  as  a  sacred 
deposit,  have  been  secured:  Here,  we 
have  been  enabled,  under  the  favour  of 
Divine  Providence,  to  estabhsh  a  govern- 
ment of  Laws,  and  not  of  Men;  a  govern- 
ment, which  secures  to  its  citizens  equal 
Rights,  and  equal  Liberty,  and  which  offers 
an  asylum  to  the  good,  to  the  persecuted, 
and  to  the  oppressed  of  other  climes. 

May  you  long  enjoy  every  blessing  which  an 
elevated  and  highly  cultivated  mind,  a 
pure  conscience,  and  a  free  country  are 
capable  of  bestowing. 

And,  in  return,  Priestley  remarked. 

IT  is  with  peculiar  satisfaction  that  I  re- 
ceive the  congratulations  of  my  brethren  of 


5©  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

the  Philosophical  Society  in  this  City,  on 
my  arrival  in  this  country.  It  is,  in  great 
part,  for  the  sake  of  pursuing  our  common 
studies  without  molestation,  though  for 
the  present  you  will  allow,  with  far  less 
advantage,  that  I  left  my  native  country, 
and  have  come  to  America;  and  a  Society 
of  Philosophers,  who  will  have  no  objection 
to  a  person  on  account  of  his  political  or 
religious  sentiments,  will  be  as  grateful,  as 
it  will  be  new  to  me.  My  past  conduct,  I 
hope,  will  show,  that  you  may  depend  upon 
my  zeal  in  promoting  the  valuable  objects 
of  your  institution;  but  you  must  not 
flatter  yourself,  or  me,  with  supposing,  that, 
at  my  time  of  life,  and  with  the  inconveni- 
ence attending  a  new  and  uncertain  settle- 
ment, I  can  be  of  much  service  to  it. 
I  am  confident,  however,  from  what  I  have 
already  seen  of  the  spirit  of  the  people  of 
this  country,  that  it  will  soon  appear  that 
Republican  governments,  in  which  every 
obstruction  is  removed  to  the  exertion  of  all 
kinds  of  talent,  will  be  far  more  favourable 
to  science,  and  the  arts,  than  any  mon- 
archical government  has  ever  been.  The 
patronage  to  be  met  with  there  is  ever  cap- 
ricious, and  as  often  employed  to  bear  down 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  51 

merit  as  to  promote  it,  having  for  its 
real  object,  not  science  or  anything  useful 
to  mankind,  but  the  mere  reputation  of 
the  patron,  who  is  seldom  any  judge  of 
science.  Whereas  a  Public  which  neither 
flatters  nor  is  to  be  flattered  will  not  fail  in 
due  time  to  distinguish  true  merit  and  to  give 
every  encouragement  that  it  is  proper  to  be 
given  in  the  case.  Besides  by  opening  as 
you  generously  do  an  asylum  to  the  per- 
secuted and  "oppressed  of  all  climes,"  you 
will  in  addition  to  your  own  native  stock, 
soon  receive  a  large  accession  of  every  kind 
of  merit,  philosophical  not  excepted,  where- 
by you  will  do  yourselves  great  honour  and 
secure  the  most  permanent  advantage  to 
the  community. 

Doubtless  in  the  society  of  so  many  worthy 
Philadelphians,  the  Priestleys  were  happy,  for 
they  had  corresponded  with  not  a  few  of  them. 

The  longing  for  Northumberland  became  very 
great  and  one  smiles  on  reading  that  the  good 
Doctor  thought  'Philadelphia  by  no  means  so 
agreeable  as  New  York  .  .  .  Philadelphia  would 
be  very  irksome  to  me  .  .  .  It  is  only  a  place 
for  business  and  to  get  money  in."  But  in  this 
City  he  later  spent  much  of  his  time. 


«                           PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  I 

1 

It  was  about  the  middle  of  July,  1794,  that  the  j 

journey     to     Northumberland    began,     and     on  ^ 

September    14,    1794,   Priestley  wrote  of  North-  ' 

umberland  "nothing  can  be  more  dehghtful,  or  i 

more  healthy  than  this  place."  j 

Safely  lodged  among  those  dear  to  him  one  finds  ' 

much  pleasure  in  observing  the  great  philosopher's  i 

activities.     The  preparation  of  a  home  for  him-  ! 

self  and  his  wife  and  the  unmarried  members  of  i 

the  family  was  uppermost  in  his  mind.     But  much  j 

time    was    given    to    correspondence    with    loyal  | 

friends  in  England.     Chief  among  these  were  the  j 

Reverends  Lindsey  and  Belsham.     The  letters  to  j 
these  gentlemen  disclose  the  plans  and  musings  of 
the  exile.     For  instance,  in  a  communication  to 

the  former,  dated  September,  14  1794,  he  wrote:  , 


The  professor  of  chemistry  in  the  College  of  1 

Philadelphia    is    supposed    to    be    on    his  : 

death-bed   ...   in  the  case  of  a  vacancy,  , 
Dr.    Rush    thinks    I    shall   be   invited    to 

succeed  him.     In  this  case  I  must  reside  I 

1 

four  months  in  one  year  in  Philadelphia,         i 
and    one    principal   inducement   with    me 
to  accept  of  it  will  be  the  opportunity  I 
shall  have  of  forming  an  Unitarian  Congre- 
gation  ... 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  53 

And  a  month  later  he  observed  to  the  same 
friend : 

Philadelphia  is  unpleasant,  unhealthy,  and 
intolerably  expensive  .  .  .  Every  day  I 
do  something  towards  the  continuation  of 
my  Church  History  ...  I  have  never 
read  so  much  Hebrew  as  I  have  since  I 
left  England.    .... 

He  visited  freely  in  the  vicinity  of  Northumber- 
land, spending  much  time  in  the  open.  Davy,  a 
traveler,  made  this  note: 

Dr.  Priestley  visited  us  at  Sunbury,  looks  well 
and  cheerful,  has  left  off  his  perriwig,  and 
combs  his  short  grey  locks,  in  the  true  style 
of  the  simplicity  of  the  country  .  .  . 
Dined  very  pleasantly  with  him.  He  has 
bought  a  lot  of  eleven  acres  (exclusively 
of  that  which  he  is  building  on),  which 
commands  a  delightful  view  of  all  the 
rivers,  and  both  towns,  i.e.  Sunbury  and 
Northumberland  and  the  country.  It  cost 
him  ioo£  currency. 

It  was  also  to  Mr.  Lindsey  that  he  communi- 
cated, on  November  12,  1794,  a  fact  of  no  little 


54  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

interest,  even  today,  to  teachers  of  Chemistry  in 
America.     It  was: 

I  have  just  received  an  invitation  to  the 
professorship  of  chemistry  at  Philadelphia . 
.  .  when  I  considered  that  I  must  pass 
four  months  of  every  year  from  home,  my 
heart  failed  me,  and  I  declined  it.  If  my 
books  and  apparatus  had  been  in  Philadel- 
phia, I  might  have  acted  differently,  but 
part  of  them  are  now  arrived  here,  and  the 
remainder  I  expect  in  a  few  days,  and  the 
expense  and  risk  of  conveyance  of  such 
things  from  Philadelphia  hither  is  so  great, 
that  I  cannot  think  of  taking  them  back 
.  .  .  and  in  a  year  or  two,  I  doubt  not, 
we  shall  have  a  college  established  here. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  his  youngest 
son,  Harry,  in  whom  he  particularly  delighted, 
began  clearing  300  acres  of  cheap  land,  and 
in  this  work  the  philosopher  was  greatly  in- 
terested; indeed,  on  occasions  he  actually  parti- 
cipated in  the  labor  of  removing  the  timber. 
Despite  this  manual  labor  there  were  still  hours  of 
every  day  given  to  the  Church  History,  and  to 
his  correspondence  which  grew  in  volume,  as  he 
was    advising    inquiring    English    friends,    who 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  55 

thought  of  emigrating,  and  very  generally  to  them 
he  recommended  the  perusal  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Cooper's 

"Advice    to    those    who    would    remove    to 
America — " 

Through  this  correspondence,  now  and  then,  there 
appeared  little  animadversions  on  the  quaint  old 
town  on  the  Delaware,  such  as 

I  never  saw  a  town  I  liked  less  than  Phila- 
delphia. 

Could  this  dislike  have  been  due  to  the  fact  that— 

Probably  in  no  other  place  on  the  Continent 
was  the  love  of  bright  colours  and  extrava- 
gance in  dress  carried  to  such  an  extreme. 
Large  numbers  of  the  Quakers  yielded  to  it, 
and  even  the  very  strict  ones  carried  gold- 
headed  canes,  gold  snuff-boxes,  and  wore 
great  silver  buttons  on  their  drab  coats 
and  handsome  buckles  on  their  shoes. 


And 


Nowhere  were  the  women  so  resplendant  in 
silks,  satins,  velvets,  and  brocades,  and 
they  piled  up  their  hair  mountains  high. 


56  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

Furthermore — 

The  descriptions  of  the  banquets  and  feasts 
.    .    .    are  appalling. 

John  Adams,  when  he  first  came  down  to 
Philadelphia,  fresh  from  Boston,  stood 
aghast  at  this  life  into  which  he  was  sud- 
denly thrown  and  thought  it  must  be  sin. 
But  he  rose  to  the  occasion,  and,  after 
describing  in  his  diary  some  of  the  "mighty 
feasts"  and  '^ sinful  feasts"  .  .  .  says  he 
drank  Madeira  "at  a  great  rate  and  found 
no  inconvenience." 

It  would  only  be  surmise  to  state  what  were  the 
Doctor's  reasons  for  his  frequent  declaration  of 
dislike  for  Philadelphia. 

The  winter  of  1 794-1 795  proved  much  colder 
"than  ever  I  knew  it  in  England,"  but  he  cheer- 
fully requested  Samuel  Parker  to  send  him  a 
hygrometer,  shades  or  bell-glasses,  jars  for  elec- 
trical batteries,  and 

a  set  of  glass  tubes  with  large  bulbs  at  the 
end,  such  as  I  used  in  the  experiments  I 
last  published  on  the  generation  of  Air 
from  water. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  57 

Most  refreshing  is  this  demand  upon  a  friend. 
It  indicates  the  keen  desire  in  Priestley  to  proceed 
with  experimental  studies,  though  surroundings  and 
provisions  for  such  undertakings  were  quite 
unsatisfactory.  The  spirit  was  there  and  very 
determined  was  its  possessor  that  his  science 
pursuits  should  not  be  laid  totally  aside.  His 
attitude  and  course  in  this  particular  were  admir- 
able and  exemplary.  Too  often  the  lack  of  an 
abundance  of  equipment  and  the  absence  of  many 
of  the  supposed  essentials,  have  been  deterrents 
which  have  caused  men  to  abandon  completely 
their  scientific  investigations.  However,  such  was 
not  the  case  with  the  distinguished  exile,  and  for 
this  he  deserved  all  praise. 

From  time  to  time,  in  old  papers  and  books  of 
travel,  brief  notes  concerning  Priestley  appear. 
These  exhibit  in  a  beautiful  manner  the  human 
side  of  the  man.  They  cause  one  to  wish  that 
the  privilege  of  knowing  this  worthy  student  of 
chemical  science  might  have  been  enjoyed  by 
him.  For  example,  a  Mr.  Bakewell  chanced 
upon  him  in  the  spring  of  1795  and  recorded: 

I  found  him  (Priestley)  a  man  rather  below 
the  middle  size,  straight  and  plain,  wearing 
his  own  hair;  and  in  his  countenance, 
though  you  might  discern  the  philosopher, 


58  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

yet  it  beamed  with  so  much  simpHcity  and 
freedom  as  made  him  very  easy  of  access. 

It  is  also  stated  in  Davy's  ''Journal  of  Voyage, 
etc."— 

The  doctor  enjoys  a  game  at  whist;  and  al- 
though he  never  hazards  a  farthing,  is 
highly  diverted  with  playing  good  cards, 
but  never  ruffled  by  bad  ones. 

In  May,  1795,  Priestley  expressed  himself  as 
follows: 

As  to  the  experiments,  I  find  I  cannot  do 
much  till  I  get  my  own  house  built.  At 
present  I  have  all  my  books  and  instru- 
ments in  one  room,  in  the  house  of  my  son. 

This  is  the  first  time  in  all  his  correspondence 
that  reference  is  made  to  experimental  work.  I^" 
was  in  1795.  As  a  matter  of  course  every  Ameri- 
can chemist  is  interested  to  know  when  he  began 
experimentation  in  this  country. 

In  the  absence  of  proper  laboratory  space  and 
the  requisite  apparatus,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
he  thought  much  and  wrote  extensively  on  religi- 
ous topics,  and  further  he  would  throw  himself  into 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  59 

political  problems,  for  he  addressed  Mr.  Adams 
on  restriction  "in  the  naturalization  of  foreigners." 
He  remarked  that — 

Party  strife  is  pretty  high  in  this  country, 
but  the  Constitution  is  such  that  it  cannot 
do  any  harm. 

To  friends,  probably  reminding  him  of  being 
''unactive,  which  affects  me  much,"  he  answered: 

As  to  the  chemical  lectureship  (in  Phila- 
delphia) I  am  convinced  I  could  not  have 
acquitted  myself  in  it  to  proper  advantage. 
I  had  no  difficulty  in  giving  a  general 
course  of  chemistry  at  Hackney  (England), 
lecturing  only  once  a  week;  but  to  give  a 
lecture  every  day  for  four  months,  and  to 
enter  so  particularly  into  the  subject  as  a 
course  of  lectures  in  a  medical  University 
(Pennsylvania)  requires,  I  was  not  pre- 
pared for;  and  my  engagements  there 
would  not,  at  my  time  of  life,  have  per- 
mitted me  to  make  the  necessary  prepara- 
tions for  it;  if  I  could  have  done  it  at  all. 
For,  though  I  have  made  discoveries  in 
some  branches  of  chemistry,  I  never  gave 
much  attention  to  the  common  routine  of 


6o  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

it,   and  know  but  little   of   the   common 
processes. 

Is  not  this  a  refreshing  confession  from  the  cele- 
brated discoverer  of  oxygen?  The  casual  reader 
would  not  credit  such  a  statement  from  one  who 
August  I,  1774,  introduced  to  the  civilized  world 
so  important  an  element  as  oxygen.  Because  he 
did  not  know  the  ''common  processes"  of  chemis- 
try and  had  not  concerned  himself  with  the 
"common  routine"  of  it,  led  to  his  blazing  the  way 
among  chemical  compounds  in  his  own  fashion. 
Many  times  since  the  days  of  Priestley  real  re- 
searchers after  truth  have  proceeded  without  com- 
pass and  uncovered  most  astonishing  and  remark- 
able results.  They  had  the  genuine  research 
spirit  and  were  driven  forward  by  it.  Priestley 
knew  little  of  the  labyrinth  of  analysis  and  cared 
less;  indeed,  he  possessed  little  beyond  an  in- 
satiable desire  to  unfold  Nature's  secrets. 

Admiration  for  Priestley  increases  on  hearing 
him  descant  on  the  people  about  him — on  the 
natives — 

Here  every  house-keeper  has  a  garden,  out  of 
which  he  raises  almost  all  he  wants  for  his 
family.  They  all  have  cows,  and  many 
have  horses,   the  keeping  of  which  costs 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  6 1 

them  little  or  nothing  in  the  summer,  for 
they  ramble  with  bells  on  their  necks  in  the 
woods,  and  come  home  at  night.  Almost 
all  the  flesh  meat  they  have  is  salted  in  the 
autumn,  and  a  fish  called  shads  in  the 
spring.  This  salt  shad  they  eat  at  break- 
fast, with  their  tea  and  coffee,  and  also  at 
.  .  ,  night.  We,  however,  have  not  yet  laid  aside 
our  English  customs,  and  having  made 
great  exertion  to  get  fresh  meat,  it  will  soon 
come  into  general  use. 

Proudly  must  he  have  said — 

My  youngest  son,  Harry,  works  as  hard  as 
any  farmer  in  the  country  and  is  as  atten- 
tive to  his  farm,  though  he  is  only  eighteen 

•  .  .  .  Two  or  three  hours  I  always  work 
in  the  fields  along  with  my  son   .    .    . 

And,   then  as  a  supplement,  for  it  was  resting 
heavily  on  his  mind,  he  added — 

What  I  chiefly  attend  to  now  is  my  Church 
History  .  .  .  but  I  make  some  experi- 
ments every  day  (July  12,  1795),  and  shall 
soon  draw  up  a  paper  for  the  Philosophical 
Society  at  Philadelphia. 


62  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

Early  in  December  of  1795  he  entrusted  a  paper, 
intended  for  the  American  Philosophical  Society  to 
the  keeping  of  Dr.  Young,  a  gentleman  from 
Northumberland  en  route  for  Europe.  Acquaint- 
ing his  friend  Lindsey  of  this  fact,  he  took  occasion 
to  add — 


I  have  much  more  to  do  in  my  laboratory, 
but  I  am  under  the  necessity  of  shutting  up 
for  the  winter,  as  the  frost  will  make  it 
impossible  to  keep  my  water  fit  for  use, 
without  such  provision  as  I  cannot  make, 
till  I  get  my  own  laboratory  prepared  on 
purpose,  when  I  hope  to  be  able  to  work 
alike,  winter  and  summer. 

Dr.  Young  carried  two  papers  to  Philadelphia. 
The  first  article  treated  of  ''Experiments  and 
Observations  relating  to  the  Analysis  of  Atmos- 
pherical Air,"  and  the  second  "Further  Experi- 
ments relating  to  the  Generation  of  Air  from 
Water."  They  filled  20  quarto  pages  of  Volume 
4  of  the  Transactions  of  the  American  Philosoph- 
ical Society.  On  reading  them  the  thought  lingers 
that  these  are  the  first  contributions  of  the  eminent 
philosopher  from  his  American  home.  Hence, 
without  reference  to  their  value,  they  are  precious. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  63 

They  represent  the  results  of  inquiries  performed 
under  unusual  surroundings.  It  is  very  probable 
that  Priestley's  English  correspondents  desired 
him  to  concentrate  his  efforts  upon  experimental 
science.  They  were  indeed  pleased  to  be  informed 
of  his  Church  History,  and  his  vital  interest  in 
religion,  but  they  cherished  the  hope  that  science 
would  in  largest  measure  displace  these  literary 
endeavors.  Priestley  himself  never  admitted  this, 
but  must  have  penetrated  their  designs,  and, 
recognizing  the  point  of  their  urging,  worked  at 
much  disadvantage  to  get  the  results  presented  in 
these  two  pioneer  studies.  Present  day  students 
would  grow  impatient  in  their  perusal,  because  of 
the  persistent  emphasis  placed  on  phlogiston, 
dephlogisticated  air,  phlogisticated  air,  and  so 
forth.  In  the  very  first  paper,  the  opening  lines 
show  this: 

It  is  an  essential  part  of  the  antiphlogistic 
theory,  that  in  all  the  cases  of  what  I  have 
called  phlogistic ation  of  air,  there  is  simply 
an  absorption  of  the  dephlogisticated  air,  or, 
as  the  advocates  of  that  theory  term  it,  the 
oxygen  contained  in  it,  leaving  the  phlogis- 
ticated part,  which  they  call  azote,  as  it 
originally  existed  in  the  atmosphere.  Also, 
according  to  this  system,  azote  is  a  simple 


64  PRIESTLEY  IN   AMERICA 

substance,  at  least  not  hitherto  analyzed 
into  any  other. 

No  matter  how  deeply  one  venerates  Priestley, 
or  how  great  honor  is  ascribed  to  him,  the  question 
continues  why  the  simpler  French  view  was  not 
adopted  by  this  honest  student.  Further,  as  an 
ardent  admirer  one  asks  why  should  Priestley  pen 
the  next  sentence: 

They,  therefore,  suppose  that  there  is  a 
determinate  proportion  between  the  quanti- 
ties of  oxygen  and  azote  in  every  portion 
of  atmospherical  air,  and  that  all  that  has 
hitherto  been  done  has  been  to  separate 
them  from  one  another.  This  proportion 
they  state  to  be  27  parts  of  oxygen  and  73 
parts  of  azote,  in  100  of  atmospherical  air. 

Priestley  knew  that  there  was  a  ''determinate 
proportion."  He  was  not,  however,  influ- 
enced by  quantitative  data. 

Sir  Oliver  Lodge  said^ — • 

Priestley's  experiments  were  admirable,  but 
his  perception  of  their  theoretical  relations 

Nine   Famous  Birmingham  Men — Cornish  Brothers,  Pub- 
lishers, 1909. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  65 

was  entirely  inadequate  and, as  we  now  think, 
quite  erroneous  ...  In  theory  he  had  no 
instinct  for  guessing  right  ...  he  may 
almost  be  said  to  have  had  a  predilection 
for  the  wrong  end. 

At  present  the  French  thought  is  so  evident 
that  it  seems  incomprehensible  that  Priestley 
failed  to  grasp  it,  for  he  continues — 

In  every  case  of  the  diminution  of  atmospher- 
ical air  in  which  this  is  the  result,  there 
appears  to  me  to  be  something  emitted 
from  the  substance,  which  the  antiphlo- 
gistians  suppose  to  act  by  simple  absorption, 
and  therefore  that  it  is  more  probable 
that  there  is  some  substance,  and  the  same 
that  has  been  called  philogiston,  or  the 
principle  of  inflammability  .  .  .  emitted, 
and  that  this  phlogiston  uniting  with  part 
of  the  dephlogisticated  air  forms  with  it 
part  of  the  phlogisticated  air,  which  is 
found  after  the  process. 

Subsequently  (1798),  he  advised  the  Society 
that  he  had  executed  other  experiments  which 
corroborated  those  outlined  in  his  first  two  papers, 
adding — 


66  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

Had  the  publication  of  your  Transactions 
been  more  frequent,  I  should  with  much 
pleasure  have  submitted  to  the  Society  a 
full  account  of  these  and  other  experiments 
which  appear  to  me  to  prove,  that  metals 
are  compound  substances,  and  that  water 
has  not  yet  been  decomposed  by  any  process 
that  we  are  acquainted  with.  Still,  how- 
ever, I  would  not  be  very  positive,  as  the 
contrary  is  maintained  by  almost  all  the 
chemists  of  the  age.    .    . 


And  thus  he  proceeds,  ever  doing  interesting 
things,  but  blind  to  the  patent  results  because  he 
had  phlogiston  constantly  before  him.  He  looked 
everywhere  for  it,  followed  it  blindly,  and  con- 
sequently overlooked  the  facts  regarded  as  most 
significant  by  his  opponents,  which  in  the  end  led 
them  to  correct  conclusions. 

The  experimental  results  in  the  second  paper 
also  admit  of  an  interpretation  quite  the  opposite 
of  that  deduced  by  Priestley.  He  confidently 
maintained  that  air  was  invariably  generated  from 
water,  because  he  discovered  it  and  liberated  it 
from  water  which  he  was  certain  did  not  contain 
it  in  solution.  He  was  conscientious  in  his 
inferences.     Deeply   did   his   friends   deplore  his 


PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA  67 

inability  to  see  more  than  a  single  interpretation 
of  his  results! 

The  papers  were  read  before  the  American 
Philosophical  Society  on  the  19th  of  February, 
1796.  Their  author  as  they  appear  in  print,  is 
the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Priestley.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
he  afhxed  this  signature.  More  probable  is  it 
that  the  Secretary  of  the  Society  was  responsible, 
and,  because  he  thought  of  Priestley  in  the  role  of  a 
Reverend  gentleman  rather  than  as  a  scientific 
investigator. 

Here,  perhaps,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the 
first,  the  very  first  communication  from  Priestley's 
pen  to  the  venerable  Philosophical  Society,  was 
read  in  1784.  It  was  presented  by  a  friend' — a 
Mr.  W.  Vaughan,  whose  family  in  England  were 
always  the  staunchest  of  Priestley's  supporters. 
And  it  is  not  too  much  to  assume  that  it  was  the 
same  influence  which  one  year  later  (1785)  brought 
about  Priestley's  election  to  membership  in  the 
Society,  for  he  was  one  of  ''28  new  members" 
chosen  in  January  of  that  year. 

There  are  evidences  of  marked  friendliness  to 
Priestley  all  about  the  Hall  of  the  Society,  for 
example  his  profile  in  Plaster  of  Paris,  "particu- 
larly valuable  for  the  resemblance"  to  the  Doctor, 
which  was  presented  in  1791;  a  second  "profile 
in   black  leather"   given  by  Robert  Patterson, 


68  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

a  President  of  the  Society,  and  an  oil  portrait 
of  him  from  Mrs.  Dr.  Caspar  Wistar. 

His  appearance  in  person,  when  for  the  first 
time  he  sat  among  his  colleagues  of  the  Society, 
was  on  the  evening  of  February  19,  1796 — the 
night  upon  which  the  two  papers,  commented  upon 
in  the  last  few  paragraphs  were  presented,  al- 
though he  probably  did  not  read  them  himself, 
this  being  done  by  a  friend  or  by  the  secretary. 
Sixteen  members  were  present.  Among  these 
were  some  whose  names  have  become  familiar 
elsewhere,  such  as  Barton,  Woodhouse  and 
others.  Today,  the  presence  in  the  same  old  Hall 
of  a  renowned  scientist,  from  beyond  the  seas, 
would  literally  attract  crowds.  Then  it  was  not 
the  fashion.  But  probably  he  had  come  unan- 
nounced and  unheralded.  Further,  he  was  speak- 
ing at  other  hours  on  other  topics  in  the  city. 

It  is  not  recorded  that  he  spoke  before  the  philo- 
sophers. Perhaps  he  quietly  absorbed  their  re- 
marks and  studied  them,  although  he  no  doubt 
was  agreeably  aroused  when  Mr.  Peale  presented 

to  the  Society  a  young  son  of  four  months 
and  four  days  old,  being  the  first  child 
born  in  the  Philosophical  Hall,  and  re- 
quested that  the  Society  would  give  him  a 
name.     On  which  the  Society  unanimously 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  69 

agreed  that,  after  the  name  of  the  chief 
founder  and  late  President  of  the  Society, 
he  should  be  called  Franklin. 

In  anticipation  of  any  later  allusion  to  Priest- 
ley's sojourn  in  Philadelphia  be  it  observed  that 
he  attended  meetings  of  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Society  three  times  in  1796,  twice  in  1797, 
three  times  in  1801  and  once  in  1803,  and  that  on 
February  3rd,  1797,  he  was  chosen  to  deliver  the 
annual  oration  before  the  Society,  but  the  Com- 
mittee reported  that 

they  waited  on  Dr.  Priestley  last  Monday 
afternoon,  who  received  the  information 
with  great  poHteness,  but  declined  accept- 
ing of  the  appointment. 

This  lengthy  digression  must  now  be  inter- 
rupted. It  has  gone  almost  too  far,  yet  it  was 
necessary  in  order  that  an  account  of  the  early 
experimental  contributions  of  the  exile  might  be 
introduced  chronologically.  As  already  remarked, 
Americans  are  most  deeply  interested  in  every- 
thing Priestley  did  during  his  life  in  this  country 
and  particularly  in  his  scientific  activities. 

On  resuming  the  story  of  the  routine  at  North- 
umberland  in   the   closing   months   of   the   year 


70  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

1795,  there  comes  the  cry  from  an  agonized 
heart, — 

We  have  lost  poor  Harry ! 

This  was  the  message  to  a  Philadelphia  resident — 
a  friend  from  old  England.  The  loss,  for  such 
it  emphatically  was,  affected  the  Doctor  and  Mrs. 
Priestley  very  deeply.  This  particular  son  was  a 
pride  to  them  and  though  only  eighteen  years  old 
had  conducted  his  farm  as  if  he  had  been  bred  a 
farmer. 

He  was  uncommonly  beloved  by  all  that 
worked  under  him. 

His  home  w^as  just  outside   of   the  borough   of 
Northumberland.     It  was  the  gift  of  his  father. 
His  interment  in  "a,  plot  of  ground"  belonging  to 
the  Society  of  Friends  is  thus  described  by  Mr 
Bakewell: 

I  attended  the  funeral  to  the  lonely  spot,  and 
there  I  saw  the  good  old  father  perform 
the  service  over  the  grave  of  his  son.  It 
w^as  an  affecting  sight,  but  he  went 
through  it  with  fortitude,  and  after  praying, 
addressed  the  attendants  in  a  few  words, 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  7 1 

assuring  them  that  though  death  had  sepa- 
rated them  here,  they  should  meet  again 
in  another  and  a  better  hfe. 

The  correspondence  to  friends  in  England  was 
replete  with  accounts  of  lectures  which  were  in 
process  of  preparation.  They  were  discourses  on 
the  Evidences  of  Revelation  and  their  author 
was  most  desirous  of  getting  to  Philadelphia  that 
he  might  there  deliver  them.  At  that  time  this 
City  was  full  of  atheism  and  agnosticism.  Then, 
too,  the  hope  of  establishing  a  Unitarian  Church 
was  ever  in  Priestley's  thoughts.  How  delightful 
it  is  to  read,  February  12th,  1796— 

I  am  now  on  my  way  to  Philadelphia. 

When  he  left  it  in  1794  he  was  rather  critical  of 
it,  but  now  after  three  days  he  arrived  there.  It 
was 

a  very  good  journey,  accompanied  by  my 
daughter-in-law,  in  my  son's  Yarmouth 
waggon,  which  by  means  of  a  seat  con- 
structed of  straw,  was  very  easy. 

Yes,  back  again  to  the  City  which  was  the  only 
city  in  this  country  ever  visited  by  him.  Al- 
though at  times  he  considered  going  to  New  York, 


72  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

and  even  to  Boston,  Philadelphia  was  to  become 
his  Mecca.  In  it  he  was  to  meet  the  most  con- 
genial scientific  spirits,  and  to  the  younger  of 
these  he  was  destined  to  impart  a  new  inspiration 
for  science,  and  for  chemical  science  in  particular. 
At  the  close  of  the  three  days'  journey  he  wrote — 

I  am  a  guest  with  Mr.  Russell  .  .  .We 
found  him  engaged  to  drink  tea  with  Presi- 
dent Washington,  where  we  accompanied 
him  and  spent  two  hours  as  in  any  private 
family.  He  (Washington)  invited  me  to 
come  at  any  time,  without  ceremony. 
Everything  is  the  reverse  of  what  it  is  with 
you. 

This  was  his  first  meeting  with  Washington.  The 
spirit  of  the  occasion  impressed  him.  The  demo- 
cratic behavior  of  the  great  Federalist  must  have 
astonished  him,  if  he  ever  entertained,  as  Lord 
Brougham  would  have  us  believe,  a  hostile  opi- 
nion and  thought  him  ungrateful  because  he  would 
not  consent  to  make  America  dependent  upon 
France. 

Priestley's  eagerness  to  preach  was  intense,  and 
happy  must  he  have  been  on  the  day  following 
his  arrival,  when  his  heart's  wish  was  gratified. 
He  preached  in  the  church  of  Mr.  Winchester — 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  73 

to  a  very  numerous,  respectable,  and  very 
attentive  audience. 

Many  were  members  of  Congress,  and  according 
to  one  witness — 

The  Congregation  that  attended  were  so 
numerous  that  the  house  could  not  contain 
them,  so  that  as  many  were  obliged  to 
stand  as  sit,  and  even  the  doorways  were 
crowded  with  people.  Mr.  Vice-President 
Adams  was  among  the  regular  attendants. 

All  this  greatly  encouraged  the  Doctor.  His 
expectations  for  the  establishment  of  a  Unitarian 
congregation  were  most  encouraging.  He  de- 
clared himself  ready  to  officiate  every  winter  with- 
out salary  if  he  could  lodge  somewhere  with  a 
friend.  The  regular  and  punctual  attendance 
of  Mr.  Adams  pleased  him  so  much  that  he  re- 
solved on  printing  his  sermons,  for  they  were  in 
great  demand,  and  to  dedicate  the  same  to  the 
Vice-President.  He  was  also  gratified  to  note 
that  the  "violent  prejudice"  to  him  was  gradually 
being  overcome.  Today  we  smile  on  recalling 
the  reception  accorded  the  good  Doctor  in  his 
early  days  in  Philadelphia.  We  smile  and  yet 
our  hearts  fail  to  understand  just  why  he  should 


74  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

have  been  so  ostracised.  To  confirm  this  it  may 
be  noted  that  on  one  occasion  Priestley  preached 
in  a  Presbyterian  Chapel,  very  probably  in 
Northumberland,  when  one  of  the  ministers  was 
so  displeased — 

that  he  declared  if  they  permitted  him  any 
more,  he  would  never  enter  the  puplit 
again. 

And  in  1794  on  coming  the  first  time  to  Philadel- 
phia he  wrote 

There  is  much  jealousy  and  dread  of  me. 

How  shameful  and  yet  it  was  most  real.  Bake- 
well  narrates  that 


''  I  went  several  times  to  the  Baptist  meeting 
in  Second  Street,  under  the  care  of  Dr. 
Rogers.  This  man  burst  out,  and  bade 
the  people  beware,  for  'a  Priestley  had 
entered  the  land ; '  and  then,  crouching  down 
in  a  worshiping  attitude,  exclaimed,  'Oh, 
Lamb  of  God!  how  would  they  pluck 
thee  from  thy  throne!" 

The  pubhc  prints  flayed  Rogers,  and  even  the 
staid  old  Philosophical  Society  indicated  to  him 


PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA  75 

that  such  conduct  ill  became  a  member  of  that 
august  body.  Accordingly  humiliated  he  re- 
pented his  error  and  in  time  became  strongly 
attached  to  Priestley,  concerning  whom  he  told 
this  story  to  a  Mr.  Taylor  whose  language  is 
here  given: 

The  Doctor  (Priestley)  would  occasionally 
call  on  Dr.  Rogers,  and  without  any  formal 
invitation,  pass  an  evening  at  his  house. 
One  afternoon  he  was  there  when  Dr. 
Rogers  was  not  at  home,  having  been 
assured  by  Mrs.  Rogers  that  her  husband 
would  soon  be  there.  Meanwhile,  Mr.  ■ — , 
a  Baptist  minister,  called  on  Dr.  Rogers, 
and  being  a  person  of  rough  manners, 
Mrs.  Rogers  was  a  good  deal  concerned  lest 
he  should  say  something  disrespectful  to 
Dr.  Priestley  in  case  she  introduced  the 
Doctor  to  him.  At  last,  however,  she 
ventured  to  announce  Dr.  Priestley's  name, 
who  put  out  his  hand;  but  instead  of  taking 
it  the  other  immediately  drew  himself 
back,  saying,  as  if  astonished  to  meet  with 
Dr.  Priestley  in  the  home  of  one  of  his 
brethren,  and  afraid  of  being  contaminated 
by  having  any  social  intercourse  with  him, 
'Dr.  Priestley!  I  can't  be  cordial.' 


76  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  that  by  this  speech  Mrs. 
Rogers  was  greatly  embarrassed.  Dr. 
Priestley,  observing  this,  instantly  relieved 
her  by  saying,  and  with  all  that  benevolent 
expression  of  countenance  and  pleasantness 
of  manner  for  which  he  was  remarkable, 
'Well,  well.  Madam,  you  and  I  can  be 
cordial;  and  Dr.  Rogers  will  soon  be  with 
us,  Mr. —  and  he  can  converse  together,  so 
that  we  shall  all  be  very  comfortable.' 
Thus  encouraged,  Mrs.  Rogers  asked  Dr. 
Priestley  some  questions  relative  to  the  Scri- 
pture prophecies,  to  which  he  made  suitable 
replies;  and  before  Dr.  Rogers  arrived,  Mr. 
— was  listening  with  much  attention, 
sometimes  making  a  remark  or  putting  in  a 
question.  The  evening  was  passed  in  the 
greatest  harmony,  with  no  inclination  on 
the  part  of  Mr.  ■ — ■  to  terminate  the  con- 
versation. At  last  Dr.  Priestley,  pulling 
out  his  watch,  informed  Mr.  — that  as  it 
was  ten  o'clock  it  was  time  that  two  old 
men  like  them  were  at  their  quarters.  The 
other  at  first  was  not  willing  to  beheve 
that  Dr.  Priestley's  watch  was  accurate; 
but  finding  that  it  was  correct,  he  took  his 
leave  with  apparent  regret,  observing  that 
he  had  never  spent  a   shorter  and  more 


PRIESTLEY  IN   AMERICA  77 

pleasant  evening.  He  then  went  away, 
Dr.  Priestley  accompanying  him,  until 
it  became  necesary  to  separate.  Next 
morning  he  called  on  his  friend,  Dr.  Rogers, 
when  he  made  the  following  frank  and 
manly  declaration:  'You  and  I  well  know 
that  Dr.  Priestley  is  quite  wrong  in  regard 
to  his  theology,  but  notwithstanding  this, 
he  is  a  great  and  good  man,  and  I  behaved 
to  him  at  our  first  coming  together  like  a  fool 
and  a  brute.' 

Many  additional  evidences  might  be  introduced 
showing  that  the  Doctor  was  slowly  winning  his 
way  among  the  people.  It  must  also  be  remem- 
bered that  not  all  of  his  associates  were  of  the 
clerical  group  but  that  he  had  hosts  of 
scientists  as  sincere  and  warm  supporters.  In 
Woodhouse's  laboratory  he  was  ever  welcome 
and  there  must  have  met  many  congenial  spirits 
who  never  discussed  politics  or  religion.  This  was 
after  the  manner  of  the  Lunar  Society  in  Birming- 
ham in  which  representatives  of  almost  every 
creed  came  together  to  think  of  scientific  matters. 
Hence,  it  is  quite  probable  that  Priestley's  visit 
to  Philadelphia  was  on  the  whole  full  of  pleasure. 

He  was  also  in  habits  of  close  intimacy  with 
Dr.  Ewing,  Provost  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 


78  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

vania,  and  with  the  Vice-Provost,  Dr.  John 
Andrews,  as  well  as  with  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush  who 
had  long  been  his  friend  and  with  whom  he 
corresponded  at  frequent  intervals  after  his 
arrival  in  America.  To  him  Priestley  had  confided 
his  hope  of  getting  a  college  in  Northumberland 
and  inquired, — 

Would  the  State  give  any  encouragement  to  it? 

To  Rush  he  also  wrote  excusing 

my  weakness  (for  such  you  will  consider  it) 
when,  after  giving  you  reason  to  expect 
that  I  would  accept  the  professorship  of 
Chemistry,  if  it  was  offered  to  me,  I  now 
inform  you  that  I  must    decline  it. 

Now  and  then  he  also  advised  him  of  such 
experiments  as  he  was  able  to  do;  for  example — 

-  I  made  trial  of  the  air  of  Northumberland  by 
the  test  of  nitrous  air,  but  found  it  not 
sensibly  different  from  that  of  England. 

In  the  leisure  he  enjoyed  his  figure  was  often 
seen  in  Congress.  He  relished  the  debates  which 
at  the  time  were  on  the  Treaty  with  England.     He 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  79 

declared  he  heard  as  good  speaking  there  as  in  the 
House  of  Commons.     He  observed — 

A  Mr.  Amos  speaks  as  well  as  Mr.  Burke; 
but  in  general  the  speakers  are  more 
argumentative,  and  less  rhetorical.  And 
whereas  there  are  with  you  not  more  than 
ten  or  a  dozen  tolerable  speakers,  here 
every  member  is  capable  of  speaking. 

While  none  of^the  letters  to  Priestley's  friends 
mention  a  family  event  of  some  importance  the 
American  Advertiser,  February  13, 1796,  announced 
that 

Mr.  William  Priestley,  second  son  of  the  cele- 
brated Dr.  Joseph  Priestley,  was  married  to 
•  the  agreeable  Miss  Peggy  Foulke,  a  young 
lady    possessed    with    every    quality    to 
render  the  marriage  state  happy. 

This  occurred  very  probably  just  before  the 
Doctor  set  forth  from  Northumberland  to  make 
his  first  Philadelphia  visit.  It  is  singular  that 
little  is  said  of  the  son  William  by  the  Doctor. 
Could  it  be  that,  in  some  way,  he  may  have  offend- 
ed his  parent?  In  his  Memorial  Rush,  writing  in 
the  month  of  March,  1796,  noted: 


8o  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

Saw  Dr.  Priestley  often  this  month.  Attend- 
ed him  in  a  severe  pleurisy.  He  once  in  his 
sickness  spoke  of  his  second  son,  William, 
and  wept  very  much. 

Busy  as  he  was  in  spreading  his  religious  tenets, 
in  fraternizing  with  congenial  scientific  friends, 
his  thoughts  would  involuntarily  turn  back  to 
England : 

Here,  though  I  am  as  happy  as  this  country  can 
make  me  .  .  .1  do  not  feel  as  I  did  in 
England. 

By  May,  1796,  he  had  finished  his  discourses, 
although  he  proposed  concluding  with  one  empha- 
tically Unitarian  in  character.  This  was  expect- 
ed by  his  audience,  which  had  been  quietly  pre- 
pared for  it  and  received  it  with  open  minds  and 
much  approval. 

On  his  return  to  Northumberland  he  promptly 
resumed  his  work  on  the  "Church  History," 
but  was  much  disturbed  because  of  the  failure  of 
his  correspondents  in  writing  him  regularly,  so  he 
became  particularly  active  in  addressing  them. 
But  better  still  he  punctuated  his  composition  of 
sermons,  the  gradual  unfolding  of  his  Church 
History,  and  religious  and  literary  studies  in  gene- 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  8l  'i 

'i 

ral,  with  experimental  diversions,  begining  with  the  \ 

pubHcation  (1796)  of  an  octavo  brochure  of  39  ; 

pages  from  the  press  of  Dobson  in  Philadelphia,  \ 
in  which  he  addressed  himself  more  especially  to 

Berthollet,  de  la  Place,  Monge,  Morveau,  Four-  \ 

croy  and  others  on  ''Considerations  on  the  Doc-  j 

trine   of   Phlogiston   and   the   Decomposition   of  j 

Water."     It  is  the  old  story  in  a  newer  dress.  j 

Its  purpose   was   to   bring   home   to  Americans  \ 

afresh  his  particular  ideas.     The  reviewer  of  the  j 

Medical  Repository  staff  was  evidently  impressed  ; 

by  it,  for  he  said :  i 

I 

It  must  give  pleasure  to  every  philosophical  j 

mind  to  find  the  United  States  becoming  ^ 

the  theatre  of  such  interesting  discussion,  j 

and    then    adds    that   the    evidence   which   was  ! 

weighty  enough  to  turn  such  men  as  Black  and  : 

others  from  the  phlogiston  idea  to  that  of  Lavois-  j 

ler —  j 

1 

has  never  yet  appeared  to  Dr.  Priestley  con- 
siderable enough  to  influence  his  judgment,  ; 
or  gain  his  assent.  ; 

Priestley,  as  frequently  observed,  entertained  : 

grave  doubts  in   regard   to   the   constitution   of 
metals.     He  thought  they  were   "compounded"  ; 


82  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

of  a  certain  earth,  or  calx,  and  phlogiston.  Fur- 
ther he  believed  that  when  the  phlogiston  flew 
away,  "the  splendour,  malleability,  and  ductility" 
of  the  metal  disappeared  with  it,  leaving  behind  a 
calx.  Again,  he  contended  that  when  metals 
dissolved  in  acids  the  liberated  ''inflammable  air" 
(hydrogen)  did  not  come  from  the  'decompounded 
water'  but  from  the  phlogiston  emitted  by  the 
metal. 

Also,  on  the  matter  of  the  composition  and 
decomposition  of  water,  he  held  very  opposite  ideas. 
The  French  School  maintained  "that  hydrogenous 
and  oxygenous  airs,  incorporated  by  drawing 
through  them  the  electrical  spark  turn  to  water, ^^ 
but  Priestley  contended  that  "they  combine  into 
smoking  nitrous  acid.'^  And  thus  the  discussion 
proceeded,  to  be  answered  most  intelligently,  in 
1797,  by  Adet,^  whose  arguments  are  familiar  to 
all  chemists  and  need  not  therefore  be  here  re- 
peated. Of  more  interest  was  the  publication 
of  two  lectures  on  Combustion  by  Maclean  of 
Princeton.  They  filled  a  pamphlet  of  71  pages. 
It  appeared  in  1797,  and  w^as,  in  brief,  a  refutation 
of  Priestley's  presentations,  and  was  heartily  wel- 
comed as  evidence  of  the  "growing  taste  in  Amer'ca 
for  this  kind  of  inquiry."     Among  other  things 

^  James  Woodhouse — A  Pioneer  in  Chemistry — J.  C.Winston 
Co.,  Phila.— 1918. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  83 

Maclean  said  of  the  various  ideas  regarding  com- 
bustion— ''Becker's  is  incomplete,  Stahl's  though 
ingenious,  is  defective;  the  antiphlogistic  is  simple, 
consistent  and  sufficient,  while  Priestley's  resem- 
bling Stahl's  but  in  name,  is  complicated,  contra- 
dictory and  inadequate." 

Not  all  American  chemists  were  ready  to  side 
track  the  explanations  of  Priestley.  The  dis- 
tinguished Dr.  Mitchill  wrote  Priestley  on  what 
he  designated  ''an  attempt  to  accommodate  the 
Disputes  among  Chemists  concerning  Phlogiston." 
This  was  in  November,  1797.  It  is  an  ingenious 
effort  which  elicited  from  Priestley  (1798)  his 
sincere  thanks,  and  the  expressed  fear  that  his 
labours  ''will  be  in  vain."  And  so  it  proved. 
Present  day  chemists  would  acquiesce  in  this 
statement  after  reading  Mitchill' s  "middle-of-the- 
road"  arguments.  They  were  not  satisfactory 
to  Maclean  and  irritated  Priestley. 

In  June  1798  a  second  letter  was  written  by 
Priestley  to  Mitchill.  In  it  he  emphasized  the 
substitution  of  zinc  for  "finery  cinder."  From 
it  he  contended  inflammable  air  could  be  easily 
procured,  and  laid  great  stress  on  the  fact  that  the 
"inflammable  air"  came  from  the  metal  and  not 
from  the  water.  He  wondered  why  Berthollet 
and  Maclean  had  not  answered  his  first  article. 
To  this,  a  few  days  later,  Mitchill  replied  that  he 


§4  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

felt  there  was  confusion  in  terms  and  that  the 
language  employed  by  the  various  writers  had 
introduced  that  confusion;  then  for  philological 
reasons  and  to  clarify  thoughts  Mitchill  proposed 
to  strike  out  azote  from  the  nomenclature  of  the 
day  and  take  septon  in  its  place;  he  also  wished 
to  expunge  hydrogene  and  substitute  phlogiston. 
He  admitted  that  Priestley's  experiments  on 
zinc  were  difhcult  to  explain  by  the  antiphlogistic 
doctrine,  adding — 

It  would  give  me  great  satisfaction  that  we 
could  settle  the  points  of  variance  on  this 
subject;  though,  even  as  it  is,  I  am  flattered 
by  your  (Priestley's)  allowing  my  attempt 
'to  reconcile  the  two  theories  to  be  ingenious, 
plausible  and  well-meant  .  .  .  Your  idea 
of  carrying  on  a  philosophical  discussion 
in  an  amicable  manner  is  charming'    .    .    . 

But  the  peace-maker  was  handling  a  delicate 
problem.  He  recognized  this,  but  desired  that 
the  pioneer  studies,  then  in  progress  might  escape 
harsh  polemics.  This  was  difficult  of  realization 
for  less  than  a  month  later  fuel  was  added  to  the 
fire  by  Maclean,  when  in  writing  Mitchill,  who 
had  sent  him  Priestley's  printed  letter,  he  em- 
phatically declared  that 


PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA  85 

The  experiment  with  the  zinc  does  not  seem 
to  be  of  more  consequence  than  that  with 
the  iron  and  admits  of  an  easy  explanation 
on  antiphlogistic  principles. 

And  he  further  insisted  that  the  experiments  of 
Priestley  proved  water  to  be  composed  "of  hydro- 
gene  and  oxygene." 

Four  days  later  (July  20,  1798)  Priestley  wrote 
Mitchill  that  he  had  replaced  zinc  by  red  precipi- 
tate and  did  not  get  water  on  decomposing  inflam- 
mable air  with  the  precipitate.  Again,  August 
23,  1798,  he  related  to  Mitchill 

that  the  modern  doctrine  of  water  consist- 
ing of  oxygene  and  hydrogene  is  not  well 
founded  .  .  .  water  is  the  basis  of  all 
kinds  of  air,  and  without  it  no  kind  of  air 
can  be  produced  .  .  .  not  withstanding 
the  great  use  that  the  French  chemists 
make  of  scales  and  weights,  they  do  not 
pretend  to  weigh  either  their  calorique  or 
light;  and  why  may  not  phlogiston  escape 
their  researches,  when  they  employ  the 
same  instruments  in  that  investigation?" 

There  were  in  all  eight  letters  sent  by  Priestley 
to    Mitchill.     They    continued    until    February, 


86  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

1799.  Their  one  subject  was  phlogiston  and  its 
role  in  very  simple  chemical  operations.  The 
observations  were  the  consequence 

of  original  and  recent  experiments,,  to 
which  I  have  given  a  good  part  of  the 
leisure  of  the  last  summer;  and  I  do  not 
propose  to  do  more  on  the  subject  till  I 
hear  from  the  great  authors  of  the  theory 
that  I  combat  in  America; 

but  adds, — 

I  am  glad  ...  to  find  several  advocates  of 
the  system  in  this  country,  and  some  of 
them,  I  am  confident,  will  do  themselves 
honour  by  their  candour,  as  we:ll  as  by 
their  ability." 

This  very  probably  was  said  as  a  consequence  of 
the  spirited  reply  James  Woodhouse^  made  to  the 
papers  of  Maclean.  As  known,  Woodhouse 
worked  unceasingly  to  overthrow  the  doctrine  of 
phlogiston,  but  was  evidently  irritated  by  Maclean, 
whom  he  reminds — 

You  are  not  yet,  Doctor,  the  conqueror  of 
this  veteran  in  Philosophy. 

^  James  Woodhouse — A  pioneer  in  Chemistry — J.  C.  Wintson 
Co.,  Phila. — 1918. 


PRIESTLEY   IN  AlVIERICA  87 

This  was  a  singularly  magnanimous  speech  on 
Woodhouse's  part,  for  he  had  been  hurling  sledge- 
hammer blows  without  rest  at  the  structure 
Priestley  thought  he  had  reared  about  phlogiston 
and  which,  he  believed,  most  unassailable,  so 
when  in  1799  (July)  Priestley  began  his  reply  to  his 
"Antiphlogistian  opponents"  he  took  occasion  to 
remark : 

I  am  happy  to  find  in  Dr.  Woodhouse  one  who 
is  equally  ingenious  and  candid;  so  that  I 
do  not  think  the  cause  he  has  undertaken 
will  soon  find  a  more  able  champion,  and  I 
do  not  regret  the  absence  of  M.  Berthollet 
in  Egypt. 

Noble  words  these  for  his  young  adversary  who, 
in  consequence  of  strenuous  laboratory  work,  had 
acquired  a  deep  respect  and  admiration  for 
Priestley's  achievements,  though  he  considered  he 
had  gone  far  astray. 

The  various  new,  confirmatory  ideas  put  forth 
by  Priestley  need  not  be  here  enumerated.  They 
served  their  day. 

Dr.  Mitchill  evidently  enjoyed  this  controver- 
sial chemical  material,  for  he  wrote  that  he  hoped 
the  readers  of  the  Medical  Repository,  in  which 
the  several  papers  appeared,  would 


88  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

participate  the  pleasure  we  feel  on  taking  a 
retrospect  of  our  pages,  and  finding  the 
United  States  the  theatre  of  so  much 
scientific  disquisition. 

And  yet,  when  in  1800,  a  pamphlet  of  90  pages 
bearing  the  title  ''The  Doctrine  of  Phlogiston 
established,  etc."  appeared  there  was  consterna- 
tion in  the  ranks  of  American  chemists.  Wood- 
house  was  aroused.  He  absolutely  refuted  every 
point  in  it  experimentally,  and  Dr.  Mitchill 
avowed — 

We  decline  entering  into  a  minute  examina- 
tion of  his  experiments,  as  few  of  his 
recitals  of  them  are  free  from  the  triune 
mystery  of  phlogiston,  which  exceeds  the 
utmost  stretch  of  our  faith;  for  according 
to  it,  carbon  is  phlogiston,  and  hydrogen 
is  phlogiston,  and  azote  is  phlogiston;  and 
yet  there  are  not  three  phlogistons,  but 
one  phlogiston  1 

It  was  imperative  to  submit  the  preceding 
paragraphs  on  chemical  topics,  notwithstanding 
they  have,  in  a  manner,  interrupted  the  chrono- 
logical arrangement  of  the  activities  of  the  Doctor 
in  his  home  life.  They  were,  it  is  true,  a  part  of 
that  Hfe — a  part  that  every  chemist  will  note  with 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  89 

interest  and  pleasure.  They  mean  that  he  was 
not  indifferent  to  chemistry,  and  that  it  is  not  to 
be  supposed  that  he  ever  could  be,  especially 
as  his  visits  to  Philadelphia  brought  to  his  atten- 
tion problems  which  he  would  never  suffer  to  go 
unanswered  or  unsolved  because  of  his  interest 
in  so  many  other  things  quite  foreign  to  them. 
However,  a  backward  look  may  be  taken  before 
resuming  the  story  of  his  experimental  studies. 
It  has  already  been  said  that  the  non-appearance 
of  letters  caused  him  anxiety.  For  instance  he 
wrote  Lindsey,  July  28,  1796 — 

It  is  now  four  months  since  I  have  received 
any  letter  from  you,  and  it  gives  me  most 
serious  concern. 

But  finally  the  longed-for  epistle  arrived  and  he 
became  content,  rejoicing  in  being  able  to  return 
the  news — 

I  do  not  know  that  I  have  more  satisfaction 
from  anything  I  ever  did,  than  from  the  lay 
Unitarian  congregation  I  have  been  the 
means  of  establishing  in  Philadelphia. 

For  the  use  of  this  group  of  worshipers  he  had 
engaged  the  Common  Hall  in  the  College  (Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania) . 


90  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

But  amidst  this  unceasing  activity  of  body  and 
mind — very  evidently  extremely  happy  in  his 
surroundings — he  was  again  crushed  to  earth  by 
the  death  of  his  noble  wife — ■ 

Always  caring  for  others  and  never  for 
herself. 

This  occurred  nine  months  after  the  departure  of 
Harry.  It  was  a  fearful  blow.  For  more  than 
thirty-four  years  they  had  lived  most  happily 
together.  The  following  tribute,  full  of  deep 
feehng  and  esteem  attests  this — 

My  wife  being  a  woman  of  an  excellent  under- 
standing much  improved  by  reading,  of 
great  fortitude  and  strength  of  mind,  and 
of  a  temper  in  the  highest  degree  affection- 
ate and  generous  .  .  .  Also  excelling  in 
everything  relating  to  household  affairs, 
she  entirely  relieved  me  of  all  concern  of 
that  kind,  which  allowed  me  to  give  all  my 
time  to  the  prosecution  of  my  studies. 

She  was  not  only  a  true  helpmate — courageous 
and  devoted — but  certainly  most  desirous  that 
the  husband  in  whom  she  absolutely  believed 
should  have  nothing  to  interrupt  or  arrest  the  pur- 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  QI 

suits  dear  to  him  and  in  which  she  herself  must 
have  taken  great  but  quiet  pride,  for  she  was 
extremely  intelligent  and  original.  Madam  Belloc 
has  mentioned 

It  is  a  tradition  in  the  family  that  Mrs. 
Priestley  once  sent  her  famous  husband  to 
market  with  a  large  basket  and  that  he  so 
acquitted  himself  that  she  never  sent  him 
again ! 

The  new  house,  partly  planned  by  her,  at  the 
moment  well  advanced  and  to  her  fancy,  was  not 
to  be  her  home  for  which  she  had  fondly  dreamed. 

Priestley  was  deeply  depressed  but  his  habitual 
submission  carried  him  through,  although  all  this 
is  pathetically  concealed  in  his  letters. 

There  were  rumours  flitting  about  that  Priestley 
purposed  returning  to  England.  That  his  friends 
might  be  apprised  of  his  real  intentions  the 
following  letter  was  permitted  to  find  its  way  into 
the  newspapers: 

Northumberland  Oct.  4, 

1796 
My  dear  Sir, 
Every  account  I  have  from  England  makes 
me   think   myself   happy  in  this  peaceful 


92  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

retirement,  where  I  enjoy  almost  every- 
thing I  can  wish  in  this  life,  and  where  I 
hope  to  close  it,  though  I  find  it  is  reported, 
both  here  and  in  England  that  I  am  about 
to  return.  The  two  heavy  afflictions  I 
have  met  with  here,  in  the  death  of  a  son, 
and  of  my  wife,  rather  serve  to  attract  me 
to  the  place.  Though  dead  and  buried,  I 
would  not  willingly  leave  them,  and  hope  to 
rest  with  them,  when  the  sovereign  dis- 
poser of  all  things  shall  put  a  period  to  my 
present  labours  and  pursuits. 

The  advantages  we  enjoy  in  this  country  are 
indeed  very  great.  Here  we  have  no  poor; 
we  never  see  a  beggar,  nor  is  there  a  family 
in  want.  We  have  no  church  establish- 
ment, and  hardly  any  taxes.  This  particu- 
lar State  pays  all  its  officers  from  a  treasure 
in  the  public  funds.  There  are  very  few 
crimes  committed  and  we  travel  without 
the  least  apprehension  of  danger.  The 
press  is  perfectly  free,  and  I  hope  we 
shall  always  keep  out  of  war. 

I  do  not  think  there  ever  was  any  country  in 
a  state  of  such  rapid  improvement  as  this 
at  present;  but  we  have  not  the  same  ad- 
vantages for  literary  and  philosophical 
pursuits  that  you  have  in  Europe,  though 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  93 

even  in  this  respect  we  are  every  day  getting 
better.  Many  books  are  now  printed  here, 
but  what  scholars  chiefly  want  are  old 
books,  and  these  are  not  to  be  had.  We 
hope,  however,  that  the  troubles  of  Europe 
will  be  the  cause  of  sending  us  some  libraries 
and  they  say  that  it  is  an  ill  wind  that  blows 
no  profit. 

I  sincerely  wish,  however,  that  your  troubles 
were  at  an  end,  and  from  our  last  accounts 
we  think  there  must  be  a  peace,  at  least 
from  the  impossibility  of  carrying  on  the 
war. 

With  every  good  wish  to  my  country  and  to 
yourself,  I  am,  dear  sir. 

Yours  sincerely, 

J.  PRIESTLEY. 

Gradually  the  news  went  forth  that  the  Doctor 
contemplated  a  second  visit  to  the  metropolis — 
Philadelphia,  the  Capital  of  the  young  Republic. 
He  wrote — 


Having  now  one  tie,  and  that  a  strong  one,  to 
this  place  (Northumberland)  less  than  I 
have  had  I  propose  to  spend  more  time  in 
Philadelphia. 


94  PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA 

As  long  as  he  was  capable  of  public  speaking  it 
was  his  desire  to  carry  forward  his  missionary  work, 

but  the  loss  of  my  fore  teeth  (having  now 
only  two  in  the  upper  jaw)  together  with 
my  tendency  to  stammering,  which  trou- 
bles me  sometimes,  is  much  against  me. 

Accordingly  in  early  January  of  1797  he  might 
have  been  found  there.  He  alludes  in  his  cor- 
respondence to  the  presence  in  the  city  of  C. 
Volney,  a  French  philosopher  and  historian,  who 
had  been  imprisoned  but  regained  liberty  on  the 
overthrow  of  Robespierre  when  he  became  pro- 
fessor of  history  in  the  Ecole  Normal.  Volney 
was  not  particularly  pleased  with  Priestley's  dis- 
courses, and  took  occasion  some  weeks  later  to 
issue 

VOLNEY'S  ANSWER  TO  PRIESTLEY 

which  was  advertised  by  the  Aurora  as  on  sale  by 
the  principal  booksellers,  price  6  cents. 

He  was  exceedingly  rejoiced  at  the  flourishing 
state  of  the  Unitarian  Society  and  the  manner  in 
which  its  services  were  conducted. 

On  the  occasion  of  his  first  discourse  the  English 
Ambassador,  Mr.  Lister,  was  in  the  audience  and 
Priestley  dined  with  him  the  day  following. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  95 

Friends  had  prevailed  upon  Priestley  to  preach 
a  charity  sermon  on  his  next  Sunday,  in  one  of 
the  Episcopal  churches,  but  in  the  end  it  was 
''delivered  at  the  University  Hall." 

His  mind  was  much  occupied  with  plans  for 
controverting  infidelity, 

the  progress  of  which  here  is  independent  of 
all  reasoning, — 

so  he  published  the  third  edition  of  his  ''Observa- 
tions on  the  Increase  of  Infidelity"  and  an  "Out- 
line of  the  Evidences  of  Revealed  Rehgion."  In 
the  first  of  them  he  issued  a  challenge  to  Volney 
who  was 

much  looked  up  to  by  unbelievers  here. 

Volney's  only  reply  was  that  he  would  not  read 
the  pamphlet.  It  was  in  these  days  that  Priestley 
saw  a  great  deal  of  Thomas  Jefferson;  indeed,  the 
latter  attended  several  of  his  sermons.  The 
intercourse  of  these  friends  was  extremely  valuable 
to  both.  Jefferson  welcomed  everything  which 
Priestley  did  in  science  and  consulted  him  much  on 
problems  of  education. 

At  the  election  in  the  American  Philosophical 
Society  in  the  closing  days  of  1796  there  was 
openly  discussed 


96  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

whether  to  choose  me  (Priestley)  or  Mr. 
Jefferson,    President   of    the    Society, — 

which  prompted  the  Doctor 

to  give  his  informant  good  reasons  why  they 
should  not  choose  me. 

Naturally  he  listened  to  the  poHtical  talk.  He 
worried  over  the  apparent  dislike  observed 
generally  to  France.     He  remarked 

The  rich  not  only  wish  for  alHance  offensive 
and  defensive  with  England.  .  .  .  but 
would  have  Httle  objection  to  the  former 
dependence  upon  it, 


and 


The  disposition  of  the  lower  orders  of  the 
people.  .  .  for  the  French.  .  .  is  not 
extinguished. 

He  was  much  annoyed  by  Peter  Porcupine. 
The  latter  was  pubHshing  a  daily  paper  (1799) 
and  in  it  frequently  brought  forward  Priestley's 
name  in  the  most  opprobrious  manner,  although 
Priestley  in  his  own  words — 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  97 

had  nothing  to  do  with  the  politics  of  the 
country. 

The  Doctor  advised  friend  Lindsey  that 

He  (Porcupine)  every  day,  advertizes  his 
pamphlet  against  me,  and  after  my  name 
adds,  ''commonly  known  by  the  name  of 
the  fire-brand  philosopher." 

However,  he  flattered  himself  that  he  would  soon 
be  back  in  Northumberland,  where  he  would  be 
usefully  engaged,  as 

I  have  cut  myself  out  work  for  a  year  at 
least.  .  .  besides  attending  to  my  experi- 
ments. 

Mr.  Adams  had  come  into  the  Presidency,  so 
Priestley  very  properly  went  to  pay  his  respects 
and 

take  leave  of  the  late  President 
(Washington) 

whom  he  thought  in  not  very  good  spirits,  although 

he  invited^me  to  Mount  Vernon  and  said 
he  thought  he  should  hardly  go  from 
home  twenty  miles  as  long  as  he  lived. 


gS  PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA 

Priestley's  fame  was  rapidly  spreading  through 
the  land.  Thoughtful  men  were  doing  him 
honor  in  many  sections  of  the  country,  as  is 
evident  from  the  following  clipping  from  a  Port- 
land (,Me.)  paper  for  March  27,  1797: — 

On  Friday  the  twenty-fourth  a  number  of 
gentlemen,  entertaining  a  high  sense  of  the 
character,  abiHties  and  services  of  the 
Reverend  Doctor  JOSEPH  PRIESTLEY, 
as  a  friend  and  promoter  of  true  science 
dined  together  at  the  Columbian  Tavern, 
in  commemoration  of  his  birth.  The 
following  toasts  were  given. 

1.  That  Illustrious  Christian  and  Philoso- 
pher, Joseph  Priestley:  May  the  world 
be  as  grateful  to  him  for  his  services  as  his 
services    are    beneficial    to    the    world. 

2.  May  the  names  of  Locke,  Newton,  Mont- 
esquieu, Hartley  and  FrankHn  be  had  in 
everlasting  remembrance. 

3.  The  great  gift  of  God  to  man,  Reason! 
May  it  influence  the  world  in  poUcy,  in 
laws,  and  in  religion. 

4.  TRUTH:    May    the    splendour    of    her 
charms  dissipate   the  gloom   of   supersti- 
tion, and  expel  hypocricy  from  the  heart 
of  man. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  99 

5.  May  our  laws  be  supported  by  religion: 
but  may  religion  never  be  supported  by 
law. 

6.  White-robed  Charity:  May  she  accompany 
us  in  all  our  steps  and  cover  us  with  a  man- 
tle of  love. 

7.  Christians  of  all  denominations:  May  they, 
''love  one  another." 

As  it  was  a  "feast  of  reason"  the  purest 
philanthrophy  dignified  the  conversation; 
and  moderation  and  temperance  bounded 
every  effusion  of  the  heart. 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1797  that  he  carried 
forward  his  work  on  Phlogiston,  alluded  to  on  p.  81. 
He  understood  quite  well  that  the  entire  chemical 
world  was  against  him  but  he  was  not  able  to  find 
good  reasons 

to  despair  of  the  old  system. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  in.  these  days,  also, 
he  had  Thomas  Cooper  with  him.  With  this 
gentleman  he  discussed  his  scientific  studies  and 
with  him  also  he  carried  on  many  arguments  upon 
the  burning  subject  of  infidelity,  about  which  he 
continuously  wrote  his  friends  in  this  country  and 
in  England.     It  was  quite  generally  believed  that 


lOO  PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA 

Cooper  was  an  infidel.  Never,  however,  did 
their  intimacy  suffer  in  the  sHghtest  by  their 
conflicting  views. 

The  Church  History  continued  to  hold  Priestley's 
first  thought.  He  was  a  busy  student,  occupied 
with  a  diversity  of  interests  and  usually  cheerful 
and  eager  to  follow  up  new  lines  of  endeavor.  The 
arrival  of  vessels  from  the  home  country  was 
closely  watched.  Books  and  apparatus  were 
brought  by  them.  While,  as  observed,  he  was 
singularly  cheerful  and  happy,  he  confessed  at 
times  that 

my   character  as   a  philosopher  is  under  a 
cloud. 

Yet,  this  was  but  a  momentary  depression,  for  he 
uttered  in  almost  the  same  breath — 

Everything  will  be  cleared  up  in  a  reasonable 
time. 

Amid  the  constant  daily  duties  he  found  real 
solace  in  his  scientific  pursuits;  indeed  when  he 
was  quite  prepared  to  abandon  all  his  activities 
he  declared  of  his  experiments  that  he  could  not 
stop  them  for 


PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA  lOI 

I  consider  them  as  that  study  of  the  works 
of  the  great  Creator,  which  I  shall  resume 
with  more  advantage  hereafter. 

He  advised  his  friends  Lindsey  and  Belsham-— 

I  cannot  express  what  I  feel  on  receiving 
your  letters.  They  set  my  thoughts  afloat, 
so  that  I  can  do  nothing  but  ruminate  a 

long    time;    but    it    is    a   most   pleasing 
melancholy. 

Far  removed  from  European  events  he  was 
nevertheless  ever  keen  and  alert  concerning 
them.  Then  the  winter  of  1797  appears  to  have 
been  very  severe.  His  enforced  confinement  to 
home  probably  gave  rise  to  an  introspection,  and 
a  slight  disappointment  in  matters  which  had 
formerly  given  him  pleasure.  For  example,  he 
puzzled  over  the  fact  that  on  his  second  visit  to 
Philadelphia,  Mr.  Adams  was  present  but  once  at 
his  lectures,  and  remarks — 

When  my  lectures  were  less  popular,  and  he 
was  near  his  presidentship,  he  left  me, 
making  a  kind  of  apology,  from  the  mem- 
bers of  the  principal  Presbyterian  Church 
having  offered  him  a  pew  there.     He  seem- 


I02  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

ed  to  interest  himself  in  my  favour  against 
M.  Volney,  but  did  not  subscribe  to  my 
Church  History  ...  I  suppose  he  was 
not  pleased  that  I  did  not  adopt  his  dis- 
like of  the  French. 

When  January  of  1798  arrived  his  joy  was 
great.  A  box  of  books  had  come.  Among  them 
was  a  General  Dictionary  which  he  regarded  as  a 
real  treasure.  Reading  was  now  his  principal 
occupation.  He  found  the  making  of  many 
experiments  irksome  and  seemed,  all  at  once, 
''quite  averse  to  having  his  hands  so  much  in 
water."  Presumably  these  were  innocent  excuses 
for  his  devotion  to  the  Church  History  which  had 
been  brought  up  to  date.  Furthermore  he  was 
actually  contemplating  transplanting  himself  to 
France.  But  with  it  all  he  wrote  assiduously  on 
religious  topics,  and  was  highly  pleased  with  the 
experimental  work  he  had  sent  to  Dr.  Mitchill 

(p.  85). 

He  advised  his  friends  of  the  ''intercepted 
letters"  which  did  him  much  harm  when  they  were 
published.  They  called  down  upon  him  severest 
judgement  and  suspicion,  and  made  him — 

disliked  by   all  the  friends   of  the  ruling 
power  in  this  country. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  103 

It  may  be  well  to  note  that  these  ''intercepted 
letters"  were  found  on  a  Danish  ship,  inclosed  in  a 
cover  addressed  to 

DR.  PRIESTLEY,  IN  AMERICA 

They  came  from  friends,  English  and  French, 
living  in  Paris.     They  abounded 

with  matter  of  the  most  serious  reflection 
...  If  the  animosity  of  these  apostate 
•  Englishmen  against  their  own  country, 
their  conviction  that  no  submissions  will 
avert  our  danger,  and  their  description  of 
the  engines  employed  by  the  Directory  for 
our  destruction,  were  impressed  as  they 
ought  to  be,  upon  the  minds  of  all  our 
countrymen,  we  should  certainly  never 
again  be  told  of  the  innocent  designs  of 
these    traitors,     or     their    associates — ■ 

The  preceding  quotation  is  from  a  booklet 
containing  exact  copies  of  the  "intercepted 
letters." 

In  the  first  of  the  letters,  dated  Feb.  12,  1798, 
the  correspondent  of  Priestley  tells  that  he  had 
met  a  young  Frenchman  who  had  visited  North- 
umberland 


I04  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

and  we  all  rejoiced  at  the  aggreeable 
information  that  at  the  peace  you  would 
not  fail  to  revisit  Europe;  and  that  he 
hoped  you  would  fix  yourself  in  this 
country  (France).  Whether  you  fix  your- 
self here  or  in  England,  (as  England  will  then 
he)  is  probably  a  matter  of  little  importance 
.  .  .  but  we  all  think  you  are  misplaced 
where  you  are,  though,  no  doubt,  in  the 
way  of  usejulness — 

The  editor  of  the  letters  annotates  usejul- 
ness thus: 

Dr.  Priestley  is  in  the  way  oj  usefulness 
in  America,  because  he  is  labouring  there, 
as  his  associates  are  in  Europe,  to  disunite 
the  people  from  their  government,  and  to 
introduce  the  blessings  of  French  anarchy. 

These  "intercepted  letters"  in  no  way  prove 
that  Dr.  Priestley  was  engaged  in  any  movement 
against  his  native  land  or  against  his  adopted 
country.  However,  the  whole  world  was  in  an 
uproar.  People  were  ready  to  believe  the  worst  re- 
garding their  fellows,  so  it  is  not  surprising  that  he 
should  have  declared  himself  ''disliked." 

He  alludes  frequently  to  the  marvelous  changes 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  IO5 

taking  place  in  the  States.  Everything  was  in 
rapid  motion.  Taxes  were  the  topic  of  conversa- 
tion on  all  sides. 

To  divert  his  philosophizing  he  busied  himself 
in  his  laboratory  where  many  "original  experi- 
ments were  made."  He  avoided  the  crowd. 
There  was  too  great  a  party  spirit.  Indeed, 
there  was  violence,  so  he  determined  not  to  visit 
Philadelphia.  He  sought  to  escape  the  ''ran- 
corous abuse"  which  was  being  hurled  at  him- — 

as  a  citizen  of  France. 

One  must  read  his  correspondence  to  fully 
appreciate  Priestley  during  the  early  days  of  1799. 
What  must  have  been  his  mental  condition  when 
he  wrote  Lindsey — 

As  to  a  public  violent  death  the  idea  of  that 
does  not  affect  me  near  so  much 


and 


I  cannot  express  what  I  feel  when  I  receive 
and  read  your  letters.  I  generally  shed 
many  tears  over  them. 

There  was  no  assurance  in  financial  and  com- 
mercial circles.     The  hopes  of  neither  the  more 


Io6  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

sober,  nor  of  the  wild  and  fanatic  reformers  of 
humanity  could  be  realized,  and  they  got  into  such 
a  war  of  hate  and  abuse  that  they  themselves 
stamped  their  doctrines  false. 

Priestley  was  out  of  patience  with  the  public 
measures  of  the  country.  He  disliked  them  as 
much  as  he  did  those  of  England,  but  added 

Here  the  excellence  of  the  Constitution  pro- 
vides a  remedy,  if  the  people  will  make  use 
of  it,  and  if  not,  they  deserve  what  they 
suffer. 

The  Constitution  was  a  favorite  instrument 
with  him.  A  most  interesting  lecture  upon  it 
will  be  found  among  the  Discourses  which  he  pro- 
posed delivering  in  Philadelphia.  This  never 
occurred. 

The  Academy  he  expected  to  see  in  operation 
failed  for  support.  The  walls  were  raised  and  he 
feared  it  would  go  no  further.  The  Legislature 
had  voted  it  $3000,  but  the  Senate  negatived  this 
act.     He  thought  of  giving  up  the  presidency  of  it. 

He  wrote  Dr.  Rush  that  he  was  quite  busy  with 
replies  to  Dr.  Woodhouse's  attack  on  his  confirma- 
tion of  the  existence  of  phlogiston,  (p.  88).  He 
relished  his  discussions  with  Woodhouse  and  was 
confident  that  eventually  he  would  "overturn  the 


PRIESTLEY  IN   AMERICA  107 

French  system   of   chemistry/'     He  further  re- 
marked to  Rush — 

Were  you  at  Uberty  to  make  an  excursion 
as  far  as  these  hack  woods  I  shall  be  happy 
to  see  you,  and  so  would  many  others. 

But  at  that  particular  moment  Rush  was  too 
much  engaged  in  combating  yellow  fever,  which 
again  ravaged  Philadelphia,  and  all  who  could, 
fled,  and  the  streets  were  ''lifeless  and  dead." 
The  prevalence  of  this  fearful  plague  was  a  potent 
factor  in  Priestley's  failure  to  visit  the  City 
during  the  year — the  last  year  of  a  closing  Century 
which  did  not  end  in  the  prosperity  anticipated  for 
it  in  the  hopeful  months  and  years  following  the 
war.  It  seemed,  in  many  ways,  to  be  the  end  of  an 
era.  Washington  died  December  14,  1799,  and 
the  Federalists'  tenure  of  power  was  coming  to  a 
close.  The  Jeffersonians,  aided  by  eight  of  the 
electoral  votes  of  Pennsylvania,  won  the  victory, 
amid  outbursts  of  unprecedented  political  bitter- 
ness. It  was,  therefore,  very  wise  that  the  Doctor 
remained  quitely  at  home  in  Northumberland  with 
his  experiments  and  Church  History. 

The  new  Century — the  19th — found  our  be- 
loved philosopher  at  times  quite  proud  of  the 
success  he  had  with  his  experiments  and  full  of 


I08  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

genuine  hope  that  ''phlogiston"  was  established; 
and  again  dejected  because  of  the  "coarse  and  low 
articles"  directed  against  him  by  the  prints  of 
the  day.  To  offset,  in  a  measure,  the  distrust 
entertained  for  him  because  of  the  "intercepted 
letters"  he  addressed  a  series  of  Letters  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Northumberland  and  vicinity. 
These  were  explanatory  of  his  views.  At  home 
they  were  most  satisfying  but  in  the  city  they 
brought  upon  him  "more  abuse."  And,  so,  he 
translated  a  passage  from  Petrarch  which  read — 

By  civil  fueds  exiled  my  native  home, 
Resign'd,    though  injured,   hither  I  have 

come. 
Here,  groves  and  streams,  delights  of  rural 

ease; 
Yet,  where  the  associates,  wont  to  serve 

and  please; 
The    aspect   bland,    that   bade    the   heart 

confide? 
Absent  from  these,  e'en  here,  no  joys  abide. 

And  these  were  incorporated  in  his  brochure. 

Having  alluded  to  the  Letters  addressed  to  the 
Northumberland  folks,  it  may  be  proper  to  intro- 
duce a  letter  which  Priestley  received-  jfrom  Mr. 
Jefferson,  whom  the  former  was  disposed  to  hold 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  IO9 

as    ''in    many    respects    the    first   man    in    this 
Country:" 

Philadelphia,  Jan.  i8,  1800. 
Dear  Sir- 

I  thank  you  for  the  pamphlets  (Letters)  you 
were  so  kind  as  to  send  me.     You  will  know 
what  I  thought  of  them  by  my  having  before 
sent  a  dozen  sets  to  Virginia,  to  distribute 
among  my  friends;  yet  I  thank  you  not  the 
less  for  these,  which  I  value  the  more  as 
they  came  from  yourself. 
The  papers  of  Political  Arithmetic,  both  in 
yours  and  Mr.  Cooper's  pamphlets,  are  the 
most  precious  gifts  that  can  be  made  to  us; 
for  we  are  running  navigation-mad,   and 
commerce-mad,    and     Navy-mad,    which 
is  worst  of  all.     How  desirable  it  is  that 
you   should   pursue    that   subject   for   us. 
From  the  porcupines  of  our  country  you 
will  receive  no  thanks,  but  the  great  mass 
of  our  nation  will  edify,  and  thank  you. 
How  deeply  have  I  been  chagrined  and  morti- 
fied at  the  persecutions  which  fanaticism 
and  monarchy  have  excited  against  you, 
even   here!     At   first,    I   believed   it   was 
merely  a  continuance  of  the  English  perse- 
cution; but  I  observe  that,  on  the  demise 


no  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

of  Porcupine,  and  the  division  of  his  in- 
heritance between  Fenno  and  Brown,  the 
latter  (though  succeeding  only  to  the  Fed- 
eral portion  of  Porcupinism,  not  the  An- 
glican, which  is  Fenno's  part)  serves  up  for 
the  palate  of  his  sect  dishes  of  abuse  against 
you  as  high-seasoned  as  Porcupine's  were. 
You  have  sinned  against  Church  and 
King,  and  therefore  can  never  be  forgiven. 
How  sincerely  I  have  regretted  that  your 
friend,  before  he  fixed  a  choice  of  position, 
did  not  visit  the  valleys  on  each  side  of  the 
blue  range  in  Virginia,  as  Mr.  Madison 
and  myself  so  much  wished.  You  would 
have  found  there  equal  soil,  the  finest 
climate,  and  the  most  healthy  air  on  the 
earth,  the  homage  of  universal  reverence 
and  love,  and  the  power  of  the  country 
spread  over  you  as  a  shield;  but,  since  you 
would  not  make  it  your  Country  by 
adoption,  you  must  now  do  it  by  your  good 
offices. 

Mr.  Livingston,  the  Chancellor  of  New  York,  so 
approved  the  ''Letters"  that  he  got  a  new  edition 
of  them  printed  at  Albany. 

The  following  letter  to  this  same  gentleman, 
although  upon  another  subject  than  the  ''Letters" 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  III 

is  not  devoid  of  interest.  It  has  come  into  the 
writer's  hands  through  the  kind  offices  of  Dr. 
Thomas  L.  Montgomery,  State  Librarian  of 
Pennsylvania : 

Sir, 

I  think  myself  much  honoured  by  your  letter, 
and  should  have  thought  myself  singularly 
happy  if  my  situation  had  been  near  to 
such  a  person  as  you.  Persons  engaged  in 
scientific  pursuits  are  few  in  this  country. 
Indeed,  they  are  not  very  numerous  any- 
where. In  other  respects  I  think  myself 
very  happy  where  I  am. 

I  have  never  given  much  attention  to  ma- 
chines of  any  kind,  and  therefore  cannot 
pretend  to  decide  concerning  your  proposal 
for  the  improvement  of  the  fire  engine.  It 
appears  to  me  to  deserve  attention.  But 
I  do  not  for  want  of  a  drawing  see  in 
what  manner  the  steam  is  to  be  let  into 
the  cylinder,  or  discharged  from  it.  There 
would  be,  I  fear,  an  objection  to  it  from  the 
force  necessary  to  raise  the  column  of 
mercury,  and  from  the  evaporation  of  the 
mercury  in  the  requisite  heat.  I  have 
found  that  it  loses  weight  in  70°  Fahren- 
heit.    If  the  mercury  was  pure,  I  should  not 


112  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

apprehend  much  from  the  calcination  of  it, 
though,  as  I  have  observed,  the  agita- 
tion of  it  in  water,  converts  a  part  of  it 
into  a  black  powder,  which  I  propose  to 
examine  farther. 

If  travelUng  was  attended  with  no  fewer 
inconveniences  here  than  it  is  in  England, 
I  should  certainly  wait  upon  you  and  some 
other  friends  at  New  York.  But  this, 
and  my  age,  render  it  impossible,  and  it 
would  be  unreasonable  to  expect  many 
visitors  in  this  hack  woods. 

I  shall  be  very  happy  to  be  favoured  with 
your  correspondence,  and  am, 

Sir, 
Yours  sincerely, 
J.   PRIESTLEY 

Northumberland  April  i6,  1799. 

In  this  period  Thomas  Cooper  was  convicted  of 
libel.  He  was  thrown  into  prison.  Priestley 
regarded  him  as  a  rising  man  in  the  Country.* 
He  said  the  act  was  the  last  blow  of  the  Federal 
party  ''which  is  now  broke  up." 


*  See  Chemistry  in  A  merica,  Appleton  &  Co.  and  Chemistry 
in  Old  Philadelphia,  The  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.,  Philadelphia, 
Pa. 


PRIESTLEY  IN   AMERICA  II3 

Priestley's  daughter,  in  England,  was  ill  at  this 
time.  Her  life  was  despaired  of  and  tidings  from 
her  were  few  and  most  distressing,  but  the  Doctor 
maintained  a  quiet  and  calm  assurance  of  her 
recovery. 

Subsequent  correspondence  between  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson and  Priestley  had  much  in  it  about  the  new 
College  which  the  former  contemplated  for  the 
State  of  Virginia.  Indeed,  the  thought  was 
entertained  that  Priestley  himself  might  become  a 
professor  in  it,  but  his  advanced  age,  he  contended 
forbade  this,  although  he  was  agreeable  to  the 
idea  of  getting  professors  from  Europe. 

Here,  perhaps,  may  well  be  included  several 
letters,  now  in  possession  of  the  Library  of  Con- 
gress, which  reveal  the  attitude  of  Dr.  Priestley 
toward  President  Jefferson,  who  was  indeed  most 
friendly  to  him: 

Dear  Sir- 

I  am  flattered  by  your  thinking  so  favourably 
of  my  pamphlets,  which  were  only  calcu- 
lated to  give  some  satisfaction  to  my  sus- 
picious neighbours.  Chancellor  Livingston 
informs  me  that  he  has  got  an  edition  of 
them  printed  at  Albany,  for  the  information 
of  the  people  in  the  back  country,  where,  he 
says,  it  is  so  much  wanted.     Indeed,   it 

8 


114  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

seems  extraordinary,  that  in  such  a  coun- 
try as  this,  where  there  is  no  court  to 
dazzle  men's  eyes  a  maxim  as  plain  as  that 
2  and  2  make  4  should  not  be  understood, 
and  acted  upon.  It  is  evident  that  the 
bulk  of  mankind  are  governed  by  something 
very  different  from  reasoning  and  argu- 
ment. This  principle  must  have  its  in- 
fluence even  in  your  Congress,  for  if  the 
members  are  not  convinced  by  the  excellent 
speeches  of  Mr.  Gallatin  and  Nicolas, 
neither  would  they  be  persuaded  tho  one 
should  rise  from  the  dead. 
It  is  true  that  I  had  more  to  do  with  colleges, 
and  places  of  education,  than  most  men  in 
Europe;  but  I  would  not  pretend  to  advise 
in  this  country.  I  will,  however,  at  my 
leisure,  propose  such  hints  as  shall  occur  to 
me;  and  if  you  want  tutors  from  England, 
I  can  recommend  some  very  good  ones. 
Were  I  a  few  years  younger,  and  more 
moveable,  I  should  make  interest  for  some 
appointment  in  your  institution  myself; 
but  age  and  inactivity  are  fast  approach- 
ing, and  I  am  so  fixed  here,  that  a  remove  is 
absolutely  impossible,  unless  you  were  pos- 
sessed of  Aladin's  lamp,  and  could  trans- 


PRIESTLEY  IN   AMERICA  II5 

port  my  house,  library,  and  laboratory, 
into  Virginia  without  trouble  or  expense. 

On  my  settlement  here  the  gentlemen  in  the 
neighbourhood,  thinking  to  make  me  of 
some  use,  set  on  foot  a  college,  of  which  I 
gave,  them  the  plan,  and  they  got  it  incor- 
porated, and  made  me  the  president;  but 
tho  I  proposed  to  give  lectures  gratis,  and 
had  the  disposal  of  a  valuable  library  at 
the  decease  of  a  learned  friend  (new,  near 
so) ,  and  had  it  in  my  power  to  render  them 
important  service  in  various  ways,  yet, 
owing  I  suspect,  in  part  at  least,  to  religious 
and  political  prejudices,  nothing  more  has 
been  done,  besides  marking  the  site  of  a 
building  these  five  years,  so  that  I  have  told 
them  I  shall  resign . 

I  much  wish  to  have  some  conversation  with 
you  on  social  subjects;  but  I  cannot  expect 
that  the  Vice  President  of  the  United  States 
should  visit  me  in  my  shed  at  Northumber- 
land, and  I  cannot  come  to  you.  I  in- 
tended on  my  settling  here  to  have  spent 
a  month  or  so  every  winter  at  Philadelphia, 
but  the  state  of  the  times,  and  various  acci- 
dents, have  a  little  deranged  my  finances, 
and  I  prefer  to  spend  what  I  can  spare  on 


Il6  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

my  experiments,   and  publication,   rather 
than  in  traveUing  and  seeing  my  friends. 
With  the  greatest  respect,  I  am, 
Dear  Sir, 

Yours  sincerely, 

J.  PRIESTLEY. 

Northumberland  Jan.  30,  1800. 
Dear  Sir- 

I  enclose  my  thoughts  on  the  subject  you  did 
me  the  honour  to  propose  to  me.  Your 
own  better  judgment  will  decide  concerning 
their  value,  or  their  fitness  for  the  circum- 
stances of  your  College.  This  may  require 
a  very  different  distribution  of  the  business 
from  that  which  I  here  recommend. 
I  thank  you  for  your  care  to  transmit  a  copy 
of  my  works  to  Bp.  Madison.  He,  as  well 
as  many  others,  speaks  of  the  increasing 
spread  of  repubhcan  principles  in  this  coun- 
try. I  wish  I  could  see  the  effects  of  it. 
But  I  fear  we  flatter  ourselves,  and  if  I 
be  rightly  informed,  my  poor  Letters  have 
done  more  harm  than  good.  I  can  only 
say  that  I  am  a  sincere  well  wisher  to  this 
country,  and  the  purity  and  stabiHty  of  its 
constitution.  Yours  sincerely, 

J.  PRIESTLEY. 

Northumberland  May  8,  iSoo. 


priestley  in  america  ii7 

Hints  Concerning  Public  Education 

Persons  educated  at  public  seminaries  are  of 
two  classes.  One  is  that  of  professional  men,  and 
physicians  and  divines  who  are  to  be  qualified  for 
entering  upon  their  professions  immediately  after 
leaving  the  college  or  university.  The  other  is 
that  of  gentlemen,  and  those  who  are  designed 
for  offices  of  civil  and  active  life.  The  former 
must  be  minutely  instructed  in  everything  adding 
to  their  several  professions,  whereas  to  the  latter 
a  general  knowledge  of  the  several  branches  of 
science  is  sufficient.  To  the  former,  especially 
that  of  Medicine,  several  professors  are  necessary, 
as  the  business  must  be  subdivided,  in  order  to 
be  taught  to  advantage.  For  the  purpose  of  the 
latter  fewer  professors  are  wanted,  as  it  is  most 
advisable  to  give  them  only  the  elements  of  the 
several  branches  of  knowledge,  to  which  they  may 
afterwards  give  more  particular  attention,  as 
they  may  have  a  disposition  or  convenience  for  it. 

Lawyers  are  not  supposed  to  be  qualified  for 
entering  upon  their  professions  at  any  place  of 
public  education.  They  are  therefore  to  be  con- 
sidered as  gentlemen  to  whom  a  general  knowledge 
is  sufficient.  It  is  advisable,  however,  that  when 
any  subject,  as  that  of  Medicine,  is  much  divided, 


Il8  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

and  distributed  among  a  number  of  professors, 
lectures  of  a  more  general  and  popular  nature  be 
provided  for  the  other  classes  of  students,  to 
whom  some  knowledge  of  the  subject  may  be 
very  useful.  A  general  knowledge,  for  example, 
of  anatomy  and  of  medicine,  too,  is  useful  to  all 
persons,  and  therefore  ought  not  to  be  omitted 
in  any  scheme  of  liberal  education.  And  if  in  a 
regular  school  of  medicine  any  of  the  professors 
would  undertake  this,  it  might  serve  as  an  useful 
introduction  to  that  more  particular  and  accu- 
rate knowledge  which  is  necessary  for  practiced 
physicians. 

The  branches  of  knowledge  which  are  necessary 
to  the  teachers  of  religion  are  not  so  many,  or  so 
distinct  from  each  other,  but  that  they  may  all  be 
taught  by  one  professor,  as  far  as  is  necessary  to 
quahfy  persons  for  commencing  preachers.  To 
acquire  more  knowledge,  as  that  of  the  scrip- 
tures, ecclesistical  history,  etc.  must  be  the  busi- 
ness of  their  future  lives.  But  every  person  liber- 
ally educated  should  have  a  general  knowledge  of 
Metaphysics,  the  theory  of  morals,  and  religion; 
and  therefore  some  popular  lectures  of  this  kind 
should  be  provided  for  the  students  in  general. 

One  professor  of  antient  languages  may  be  suffi- 
cient for  a  place  of  hberal  education,  and  I  would 
not  make   any  provision  for  instruction  in   the 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  IIQ 

modern  languages,  for  tho  the  knowledge  of  them, 
as  well  as  skill  in  fencing,  dancing  and  riding,  is 
proper  for  gentlemen  liberally  educated,  instruc- 
tion in  them  may  be  procured  on  reasonable  terms 
without  burdening  the  funds  of  the  seminary  with 
them. 

Abstract  Mathematics,  and  Natural  Philosophy, 
are  so  distinct,  that  they  require  different  teachers. 
One  is  sufficient  for  the  former,  but  the  latter  must 
be  subdivided,  one  for  natural  history,  another  for 
experimental  Philosophy  in  general  and  a  third 
for  chemistry;  in  consequence  of  the  great  exten- 
sion of  this  branch  of  experimental  Philosophy  of 
late  years.  The  botany,  mineralogy,  and  other 
branches  of  natural  history  are  sufficiently  distinct 
to  admit  of  different  professors,  nothing  more  than 
a  general  knowledge  of  each  of  them,  and  direc- 
tions for  acquiring  a  more  extended  knowledge  of 
them  is  necessary  at  any  place  of  education. 

Two  or  three  Schools  of  Medicine  I  should 
think  sufficient  for  all  the  United  States  for  some 
years  to  come,  but  with  respect  to  these  I  do  not 
pretend  to  give  any  opinion  not  having  sufficient 
knowledge  of  the  subject.  Places  of  liberal  edu- 
cation in  general  should  be  made  more  numerous, 
and  for  each  of  them  I  should  think  the  following 
professors  (if  the  funds  of  the  Society  will  admit 
of  it)  should  be  engaged,  viz.     (i)  For  the  antient 


I20  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

languages.  (2)  The  Belles  Lettres,  including  uni- 
versal Grammar,  Oratory,  criticism  and  biblio- 
graphy. (3)  Mathematics.  (4)  Natural  history. 
(5)  Experimental  Philosophy.  (6)  Chemistry,  in- 
cluding the  theory  of  Agriculture.  (7)  Anatomy 
and  Medicine.  (8)  Geography  and  history,  Law, 
and  general  policy.  (9)  Metaphysics,  morals,  and 
theology. 

A  course  of  liberal  education  should  be  as  com- 
prehensive as  possible.  For  this  purpose  a  large 
and  well  chosen  library  will  be  of  great  use.  Not 
that  the  students  should  be  encouraged  to  read 
books  while  they  are  under  tuition,  but  an  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  books,  and  looking  into  them,  will 
give  them  a  better  idea  of  the  value  of  them  than 
they  could  get  by  merely  hearing  of  them,  and 
they  would  afterwards  better  know  what  books  to 
purchase  when  they  should  have  the  means  and 
the  leisure  for  the  perusal  of  them.  A  large  col- 
lection of  books  will  also  be  useful  to  the  lecturer 
in  bibliography  and  would  recommend  the  semi- 
nary to  the  professors  in  general,  and  make  it  a 
desirable  place  of  residence  for  gentlemen  of  a 
studious  turn. 

2.  In  order  to  engage  able  professors,  some 
fixed  salaries  are  necessary;  but  they  should  not 
be  much  more  than  a  bare  subsistence.  They  will 
then  have  a  motive  to  exert  themselves,  and  by 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  121 

the  fees  of  students  their  emoluments  may  be 
ample.  The  professorships  in  the  EngHsh  uni- 
versities, which  are  largely  endowed,  are  sinecures; 
while  those  in  Scotland,  to  which  small  stipends 
are  annexed,  are  filled  by  able  and  active  men. 

3.  It  is  not  wise  to  engage  any  persons  who  are 
much  advanced  in  life,  or  of  established  reputation 
for  efficient  teachers.  They  will  not  be  so  active 
as  younger  men  who  have  a  character  to  acquire. 
They  will  also  better  accommodate  their  lectures 
to  the  increasing  light  of  the  age,  whereas  old 
men  will  be  attached  to  old  systems,  tho  ever  so 
imperfect.  Besides,  they  are  the  most  expert 
in  teaching  who  have  lately  learned,  and  the 
minutae  of  science,  which  are  necessary  to  a  teacher, 
are  generally  forgotten  by  good  scholars  who  are 
advanced  m  life,  and  it  is  peculiarly  irksome  to 
relearn  them. 

4.  I  would  not  without  necessity  have  recourse 
to  any  foreign  country  for  professors.  They  will 
expect  too  much  deference,  and  the  natives  will 
be  jealous  of  them. 

5.  Three  things  must  be  attended  to  in  the  edu- 
cation of  youth.  They  must  be  taught,  fed  and 
governed  and  each  of  these  requires  very  different 
qualifications.  They  who  are  the  best  qualified 
to  teach  are  often  the  most  unfit  to  govern,  and 
it  is  generally  advisable  that  neither  of  these  have 


122  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

anything  to  do  with  providing  victuals.  In  the 
English  universities  all  these  affairs  are  perfectly 
distinct.  The  tutors  only  teach,  the  proctors  su- 
perintend the  discipline,  and  the  cooks  provide 
the  victuals. 


Philadelphia,  Apr.  lo,   1801. 

Dear  Sir- 

Your  kind  letter,  which,  considering  the  nu- 
merous engagements  incident  to  your  situa- 
tion, I  had  no  right  to  expect,  was  highly 
gratifying  to  me,  and  I  take  the  first  oppor- 
tunity of  acknowledging  it.  For  tho  I 
believe  I  am  completely  recovered  from 
my  late  illness,  I  am  advised  to  write  as 
little  as  possible.  Your  invitation  to  pay 
you  a  visit  is  flattering  to  me  in  the  highest 
degree,  and  I  shall  not  wholly  despair  of 
some  time  or  other  availing  myself  of  it, 
but  for  the  present  I  must  take  the  nearest 
way  home. 
Your  resentment  of  the  treatment  I  have  met 
with  in  this  country  is  truly  generous,  but 
I  must  have  been  but  little  impressed  with 
the  principles  of  the  religion  you  so  justly 
commend,  if  they  had  not  enabled  me  to 
bear  much  more  than  I  have  yet  suffered. 


PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA  1 23 

Do  not  suppose  that,  after  the  much  worse 
treatment  to  which  I  was  for  many  years 
exposed  in  England  (of  which  the  pamphlet 
I  take  the  hberty  to  inclose  will  give  you 
some  idea)  ■  I  was  much  affected  by  this. 
My  Letters  to  the  Inhabitants  of  Northum- 
berland were  not  occasioned  by  any  such 
thing,  tho  it  served  me  as  a  pretense  for 
writing  them,  but  the  threatenings  of  Mr. 
Pickering,  whose  purpose  to  send  me  out  of 
the  country  Mr.  Adams  (as  I  conclude 
from  a  circuitous  attempt  that  he  made  to 
prevent  it)  would  not,  in  the  circumstances 
in  which  he  then  was,  have  been  able  to 
directly  oppose.  My  publication  was  of 
service  to  me  in  that  and  other  respects 
and  I  hope,  in  some  measure,  to  the 
common  cause.  But  had  it  not  been  for 
the  extreme  absurdity  and  violence  of  the 
late  administration,  I  do  not  know  how 
far  the  measures  might  not  have  been 
carried.  I  rejoice  more  than  I  can  express 
in  the  glorious  reverse  that  has  taken  place, 
and  which  has  secured  your  election.  This 
I  flatter  myself  will  be  the  permanent  es- 
tablishment of  truly  republican  principles 
in  this  country,  and  also  contribute  to  the 
same  desirable  event  in  more  distant  ones. 


124  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

I  beg  you  would  not  trouble  yourself  with 
any  answer  to  this.  The  knowledge  of 
your  good  opinion  and  good  wishes,  is  quite 
sufficient  for  me.  I  feel  for  the  difficulties 
of  your  situation,  but  your  spirit  and 
prudence  will  carry  you  thro  them,  tho 
not  without  paying  the  tax  which  the  wise 
laws  of  nature  have  imposed  upon  pre- 
eminence and  celebrity  of  every  kind,  a 
tax  which,  for  want  of  true  greatness  of 
mind,  neither  of  your  predecessors,  if  I 
estimate  their  characters  aright,  paid  with- 
out much  reluctance. 

With  every  good  wish,  I  am, 
Dear  Sir, 

Yours  sincerely, 

J.  PRIESTLEY. 

P.S. 

As  I  trust  that  Politics  will  not  make  you 
forget  what  is  due  to  science,  I  shall  send 
you  a  copy  of  some  articles  that  are  just 
printed  for  the  Transactions  of  the  Philo- 
sophical Society  in  this  place.  No.  (5)  p.  36 
is  the  most  deserving  of  your  notice.  I 
should  have  sent  you  my  Defence  of  Phlo- 
giston, but  that  I  presume  you  have  seen  it. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  1 25 

June,  1802. 

To  Thomas  Jefferson,  President  of  the  United 
States  of  America. 

Sir, 

My  high  respect  for  your  character,  as  a 
poHtician,  and  a  man,  makes  me  desirous 
of  connecting  my  name,  in  some  measure 
with  yours  while  it  is  in  my  power,  by 
means  of  some  pubHcation,  to  do  it. 
The  first  part  of  this  work,  which  brought  the 
history  to  the  fall  of  the  western  empire, 
was  dedicated  to  a  zealous  friend  of  civil 
and  reUgious  liberty,  but  in  a  private  sta- 
tion. What  he,  or  any  other  friend  of 
liberty  in  Europe,  could  only  do  by  their 
good  wishes,  by  writing,  or  by  patriot 
suffering,  you,  Sir,  are  actually  accom- 
plishing, and  upon  a  theatre  of  great  and 
growing  extent. 
It  is  the  boast  of  this  country  to  have  a  con- 
stitution the  most  favourable  to  political 
liberty,  and  private  happiness,  of  any  in 
the  world,  and  all  say  that  it  was  yourself, 
more  than  any  other  individual,  that 
planned  and  established  it;  and  to  this 
opinion  your  conduct  in  various  public 
ofhces,  and  now  in  the  highest,  gives  the 
clearest  attestation. 


126  PRIESTLEY  IN   AMERICA 

Many  have  appeared  the  friends  of  the  rights 
of  man  while  they  were  subject  to  the  power 
of  others,  and  especially  when  they  were 
sufferers  by  it;  but  I  do  not  recollect  one 
besides  yourself  who  retained  the  same 
principles,  and  acted  by  them,  in  a  station 
of  real  power.  You,  Sir,  have  done  more 
than  this;  having  proposed  to  relinquish 
some  part  of  the  power  which  the  constitu- 
tion gave  you;  and  instead  of  adding  to 
the  burden  of  the  people,  it  has  been  your 
endeavour  to  lighten  those  burdens  tho 
the  necessary  consequence  must  be  the 
diminution  of  your  influence.  May  this 
great  example,  w^hich  I  doubt  not  will  dem- 
onstrate the  practicability  of  truly  repub- 
lican principles,  by  the  actual  existence  of 
a  form  of  government  calculated  to  answer 
all  the  useful  purposes  of  government 
(giving  equal  protection  to  all,  and  leaving 
every  man  in  the  possession  of  every  power 
that  he  can  exercise  to  his  own  advantage, 
without  infringing  on  the  equal  liberty 
of  others)  be  followed  in  other  countries, 
and  at  length  become  universal. 

Another  reason  why  I  wdsh  to  prefix  your 
name  to  this  work,  and  more  appropriate 
to  the  subject  of  it,  is  that  you  have  ever 


PRIESTLEY  IN   AMERICA  I27 

been  a  strenuous  and  uniform  advocate  of 
religious  no  less  than  civil  liberty,  both  in 
your  own  state  of  Virginia,  and  in  the 
United  States  in  general,  seeing  in  the  clear- 
est light  the  various  and  great  mischiefs 
that  have  arisen  from  any  particular  form 
of  religion  being  favoured  by  the  State 
more  than  any  other;  so  that  the  profession 
or  practice  of  religion  is  here  as  free  as  that 
of  philosophy,  or  medicine.  And  now  the 
experience  of  more  than  twenty  years  leaves 
little  room  to  doubt  but  that  it  is  a  state, 
of  things  the  most  favourable  to  mutual 
candour,  which  is  of  great  importance  to 
domestic  peace  and  good  neighbourhood 
and  to  the  cause  of  all  truth,  religious 
truth  least  of  all  excepted.  When  every 
question  is  thus  left  to  free  discussion,  there 
cannot  be  a  doubt  but  that  truth  will 
finally  prevail,  and  establish  itself  by  its 
own  evidence;  and  he  must  know  little  of 
mankind,  or  of  human  nature,  who  can 
imagine  that  truth  of  any  kind  will  be  ulti- 
mately unfavourable  to  general  happiness. 
That  man  must  entertain  a  secret  suspicion 
of  his  own  principles  who  wishes  for  any 
exclusive  advantage  in  his  defence  or  pro- 
fession of  them. 


128  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

Having  fled  from  a  state  of  persecution  in 
England,  and  having  been  exposed  to  some 
degree  of  danger  in  the  late  administration 
here,  I  naturally  feel  the  greater  satisfac- 
tion in  the  prospect  of  passing  the  re- 
mainder of  an  active  life  (when  I  naturally 
wish  for  repose)  under  your  protection. 
Tho  arrived  at  the  usual  term  of  human 
life  it  is  now  only  that  I  can  say  I  see 
nothing  to  fear  from  the  hand  of  power,  the 
government  under  which  I  live  being  for 
the  first  time  truly  favourable  to  me.  And 
tho  it  will  be  evident  to  all  who  know 
me  that  I  have  never  been  swayed  by  the 
mean  principle  of  fear,  it  is  certainly  a 
happiness  to  be  out  of  the  possibility  of  its 
influence,  and  to  end  ones  days  in  peace, 
enjoying  some  degree  of  rest  before  the 
state  of  more  perfect  rest  in  the  grave,  and 
with  the  hope  of  rising  to  a  state  of  greater 
activity,  security  and  happiness  beyond  it. 
This  is  all  that  any  man  can  wish  for,  or 
have;  and  this.  Sir,  under  your  administra- 
tion, I  enjoy. 

With  the  most  perfect  attachment,  and  every 
good  wish  I  subscribe  myself  not  your 
subject,  or  humble  servant,  but  your 
sincere  admirer.  J.  PRIESTLEY. 


PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA  1 29 

Dear  Sir, 

As  there  are  some  particulars  in  a  letter  I 
have  lately  received  frora  Mr.  Stone  at 
Paris  which  I  think  it  will  give  you  pleasure 
to  have,  and  Mr.  Cooper  has  been  so 
obHging  as  to  translate  them  for  me,  I  take 
the  liberty  to  send  them,  along  with  a  copy 
of  my  Dedication,  with  the  correction  that 
you  suggested,  and  a  Note  from  the  latter 
with  which  you  favoured  me  concerning 
what  you  did  with  respect  to  the  constitu- 
tion, and  which  is  really  more  than  I  had 
ascribed  to  you.  For  almost  everything  of 
importance  to  political  liberty  in  that  in- 
strument was,  as  it  app'ears  to  me,  sug- 
gested by  you,  and  as  this  was  unknown  to 
myself,  and  I  beHeve  is  so  with  the  world 
in  genera],  I  was  unwilhng  to  omit  this 
opportunity  of  noticing  it. 

I  shall  be  glad  if  you  will  be  so  good  as  to 
engage  any  person  sufhciently  qualified  to 
draw  up  such  an  account  of  the  constitu- 
tional forms  of  this  country  as  my  friends 
say  will  be  agreeable  to  the  emperor,  and 
I  will  transmit  it  to  Mr.  Stone. 

Not  knowing  any  certain  method  of  sending 
a  letter  to  France  and  presuming  that  you 
do  I  take  the  liberty  to  inclose  my  letter 


130  PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA 

to  Mr.  Stone.  It  is,  however,  so  written 
that  no  danger  can  arise  to  him  from  it, 
into  whatever  hands  it  may  fall. 
The  state  of  my  health,  though,  I  thank  God, 
much  improved,  will  not  permit  me  to  avail 
myself  of  your  kind  invitation  to  pay  you 
a  visit.  Where  ever  I  am,  you  may  depend 
upon  my  warmest  attachment  and  best 
wishes. 

J.  PRIESTLEY. 

Northumberland  Oct.  29,  1802. 

P.S. 

I  send  a  copy  of  the  Preface  as  well  as  of  the 
Dedication,  that  you  may  form  some  idea  of 
the  work  you  are  pleased  to  patronize. 

Northumberland  Jan.  25,  1803. 

Dear  Sir, 

As  you  were  pleased  to  think  favourably  of 
my  pamphlet  entitled  Socrates  and  Jesus 
compared,  I  take  the  liberty  to  send  you  a 
defence  of  it.  My  principal  object,  you 
will  perceive,  was  to  lay  hold  of  the  oppor- 
tunity, given  me  by  Mr.  B.  Linn,  to  excite 
some  attention  to  doctrines  which  I  con- 
sider   as    of    peculiar    importance    in    the 


PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA  131 

Christian  system,  and  which  I  do  not  find 
to  have  been  discussed  in  this  country. 
The  Church  History  is,  I  hope,  by  this  time 
in  the  hands  of  the  bookseller  at  Philadel- 
phia, so  that  you  will  soon,  if  my  directions 
have  been  attended  to,  receive  a  copy  of  the 
work  which  I  have  the  honour  to  dedicate 
to  you. 
With  the  greatest  respect  and  attachment,  I 
am 

Dear  Sir, 

Yours  sincerely, 
J.  PRIESTLEY. 

Dear  Sir, 

I  take  the  liberty  to  send  you  a  second  defence 
of  my  pamphlet  about  Socrates,  on  the  i6th 
page  of  which  you  will  fina  that  I  have 
undertaken  the  task  you  were  pleased  to 
recommend  to  me.  On  giving  more  atten- 
tion to  it,  I  found,  as  the  fox  did  with 
respect  to  the  lion,  that  my  apprehensions 
entirely  vanished.  Indeed,  I  have  already 
accomplished  a  considerable  part  of  the 
work,  and  in  about  a  year  from  this  time  I 
hope  to  finish  the  whole,  provided  my 
health,  which  is  very  precarious,  be  con- 
tinued in  the  state  in  which  it  now  is. 


132  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

I  directed  a  copy  of  the  tract  on  phlogiston  to 
be  sent  to  you  from  Philadelphia,  and  I 
shall  order  another,  which,  together  with 
the  inclosed  papers,  I  shall  be  much  ob- 
liged to  you  if  you  will  convey  to  Mr. 
Livingston.  Please  also  to  cast  an  eye 
over  them  yourself;  and  if  you  can  with 
propriety  promote  my  interest  by  any  rep- 
resentation of  yours,  I  am  confident  you 
will  do  it. 

When  you  wrote  to  me  at  the  commencement 
of  your  administration,  you  said  "the  only 
dark  speck  in  our  horizon  is  in  Louisiana." 
By  your  excellent  conduct  it  is  now  the 
brightest  we  have  to  look  to. 

Mr.  Vaughan  having  applied  to  me  for  a  copy 
of  my  Harmony  of  the  Evangelists,  which 
was  not  to  be  had  in  Philadelphia,  and 
intimated  that  it  was  for  you,  my  son, 
whose  copy  is  more  perfect  than  mine, 
begs  the  honour  of  your  acceptance  of  it, 
as  a  mark  of  his  high  esteem,  in  which  he 
has  the  hearty  concurrence  of 

Dear  Sir, 

Yours  sincerely, 
J.  PRIESTLEY, 

Northumberland  Dec.  12,  1803. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  133 

His  European  correspondents  were  informed 
that  he  was  much  engaged  with  reHgious  matters. 
While  his  theological  views  were  not  received 
very  graciously  yet  he  found 

some  young  men  of  a  serious  and  inquisitive 
turn,  who  read  my  works,  and  are  con- 
firmed Unitarians. 

In  one  of  his  communications  to  Lindsey, 
written  in  April  1800,  he  expresses  himself  in  the 
following  most  interesting  way  relative  to  his 
scientific  engagements.  American  men  of  science 
will  welcome  it:     This  is  the  message: 

I  send  along  with  this  an  account  of  a  course 
of  experiments  of  as  much  importance  as 
almost  any  that  I  have  ever  made.  Please 
to  shew  it  to  Mr.  Kirwan,  and  give  it  either 
to  Mr.  Nicholson  for  his  journal,  or  to  Mr. 
Phillips  for  his  magazine,  as  you  please.  I 
was  never  more  busy  or  more  successful  in 
this  way,  when  I  was  in  England;  and  I 
am  very  thankful  to  Providence  for  the 
means  and  the  leisure  for  these  pursuits, 
which  next  to  theological  studies,  interest 
me  the  most.  Indeed,  there  is  a  natural 
alliance  between  them,  as  there  must  be 
between  the  word  and  the  works  of  God. 


134  PRIESTLEY  IN  AMERICA 

He  was  now  at  work  apparently  in  his  own  little 
laboratory  adjacent  to  his  dwelling  place.  For 
more  than  a  century  this  structure  has  remained 
practically  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Priestley.  In 
it  he  did  remarkable  things,  in  his  judgment; 
thus  refuting  the  general  idea  that  after  his  arrival 
in  America  nothing  of  merit  in  the  scientific 
direction  was  accomplished  by  him.  The  satis- 
factory results,  mentioned  to  Lindsey,  were  em- 
bodied in  a  series  of  "Six  Chemical  Essays" 
which  eventually  found  their  way  into  the  Trans- 
actions of  the  American  Philosophical  Society.  It 
is  a  miscellany  of  observations.  In  it  are  recorded 
the  results  found  on  passing  the  ''vapour  of  spirit 
of  nitre"  over  iron  turnings,  over  copper,  over 
perfect  charcoal,  charcoal  of  bones,  melted  lead, 
tin  and  bismuth;  and  there  appears  a  note  to  the 
effect  that  in  Papin's  digester  "a  solution  of 
caustic  alkali,  aided  by  heat,  made  a  liquor 
silicum  with  pounded  flint  glass."  There  is  also 
given  a  description  of  a  pyrophorus  obtained 
from  iron  and  sulphur.  More  interesting,  how- 
ever, was  the  account  of  the  change  of  place  in 
different  kinds  of  air,  "through  several  interposing 
substances,"  in  which  Priestley  recognized  dis- 
tinctly for  the  first  time,  the  phenomena  of  gaseous 
diffusion.  There  are  also  references  to  the  ab- 
sorption of  air  by  water,  and  of  course,  as  one 


PRIESTLEY  IN  AMERICA  135 

would  expect  from  the  Doctor,  for  it  never  failed, 
there  is  once  more  emphasized  ''certain  facts 
pertaining  to  phlogiston."  His  friends  were  quite 
prepared  for  such  statements.  They  thought  of 
Joseph  Priestley  and  involuntarily  there  arose  the 
idea  of  phlogiston. 

The  little  workshop  or  laboratory,  in  North- 
umberland, where  these  facts  were  gathered,  will 
soon  be  removed  to  the  Campus  of  Pennsylvania 
State  College.  It  will  be  preserved  with  care 
and  in  it,  it  is  hoped,  will  be  gradually  assembled 
everything  to  be  found  relating  to  the  noble  soul 
who  once  disclosed  Nature's  secrets  in  this  simple 
primitive  structure,  which  American  chemists 
should  ever  cherish,  and  hold  as  a  Mecca  for  all 
who  would  look  back  to  the  beginnings  of  chemical 
research  in  our  beloved  country. 

How  appropriate  it  would  be  coald  there  be 
deposited  in  the  little  laboratory,  the  apparatus 
owned  and  used  by  Priestley,  which  at  present 
constitutes  and  for  many  years  past  has  formed 
an  attractive  collection  in  Dickinson  College,  (Pa.) 
There  would  be  the  burning  lens,  the  reflecting 
telescope,  the  refracting  telescope  (probably  one 
of  the  first  achromatic  telescopes  made),  the  air- 
gun,  the  orrery,  and  flasks  with  heavy  ground 
necks,  and  heavy  curved  tubes  with  ground 
stoppers — all  brought  (to  Dickinson)  through  the 


136  PRIESTLEY   IN   AJ^IERICA 

instrumentality  of  Thomas  Cooper,  ''the  greatest 
man  in  America  in  the  powers  of  his  mind  and 
acquired  information  and  that  without  a  single 
exception"    according    to    Thomas    Jefferson. 

And  how  the  Library  would  add  to  the  glory 
of  the  place,  but,  alas!  it  has  been  scattered  far 
and  wide,  for  in  1816,  Thomas  Dobson  adver- 
tised the  same  for  sale  in  a  neatly  printed  pamphlet 
of  96  pages.  In  it  were  many  scarce  and  valuable 
books.  The  appended  prices  ranged  quite  widely, 
reaching  in  one  case  the  goodly  sum  of  two 
hundred  dollars! 

And  as  future  chemists  visit  this  unique  reminder 
of  Dr.  Priestley  it  should  be  remembered  that  on 
the  piazza  of  the  dwelling  house  there  assembled 
August  I,  1874,  a  group  of  men  who  planned  then 
and  there  for  the  organization  of  the  present 
American  Chemical  Society. 

The  ''Essays,"  previously  mentioned,  will  be 
found  intensely  interesting  but  they  are  somewhat 
difficult  to  read  because  of  their  strange  nomencla- 
ture. Here  is  Priestley's  account  of  the  method 
pursued  by  him  to  get  nitrogen: 

Pure  phlogisticated  air  (nitrogen)  may  be 
procured  in  the  easiest  and  surest  manner 
by  the  use  of  iron  only — To  do  this  I  fill 
phials    with    turnings    of    malleable    iron, 


PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA  137 

and  having  filled  them  with  water,  pour  it 
out,  to  admit  the  air  of  the  atmosphere, 
and  in  six  or  seven  hours  it  will  be  dimin- 
ished. .  .  what  remains  of  the  air  in 
the  phials  will  be  the  purest  phlogisticated 
air  (nitrogen). 


Among  his  contributions  to  the  scientific 
periodicals  of  the  times  there  was  one  relating  to 
the  sense  of  hearing.  It  is  a  curious  story.  One 
may  properly  ask  whether  the  singular  facts  in 
it  were  not  due  to  defects  in  Priestley's  own  organs 
of  hearing.  The  paper  did  not  arouse  comment. 
It  was  so  out  of  the  ordinary  experimental  work 
which  he  was  carrying  forward  with  such  genuine 
pleasure  and  intense  vigour. 

Strong  appeals  were  steadily  coming  from 
English  friends  that  he  return.  While  comment- 
ing on  the  pleasure  he  should  have  in  seeing  them 
he  firmly  declared  that  the  step  would  not  be  wise. 
In  short,  despite  all  arguments  he  had  determined 
to 

remain  where  I  am  for  life. 

The  prejudices  against  him  were  abating,  although 
he  said 


138  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

that  many  things  are  agamst  me;  and 
though  they  do  not  shake  my  faith,  they 
try  it. 

There  had  gathered  a  class  of  fourteen  young 
men  about  him  in  the  Northumberland  home. 
They  had  adopted  his  Unitarian  ideas.  To  them 
he  lectured  regularly  on  theology  and  philosophy. 
Those  must  have  been  inspiring  moments.  It  was 
in  this  wise  that  the  aged  philosopher  felt  he  was 
doing  good  and  was  most  useful.  He  said  that 
it  was 

a  pretty  good  class  of  young  men  to  lecture 
to. 

Much  time  was  given  to  his  English  correspond- 
ents. Them  he  advised  of  the  rapid  development 
of  the  States.  He  sent  to  some  pictures  of  the 
country  about  him,  and  with  much  delight  he 
referred  to  the  fact  that  Jefferson,  whom  he 
ardently  admired,  was  now,  in  the  closing  weeks 
of  1800,  the  President,  and  his  associate — Aaron 
Burr,  Vice-President.  He  announced  to  English 
friends  that  the  late  administration,  that  of  John 
Adams,  was 

almost  universally  reprobated. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  139 

Mr.  Jefferson,  he  insisted,  "will  do  nothing 
rashly,' ' 

His  being  president  may  induce  me  to  visit 
the  federal  city,  and  perhaps  his  seat  in 
Virginia. 

The  seat  of  government,  as  may  be  inferred,  had 
been  removed  to  Washington  from  Philadelphia. 
But  to  the  latter  center,  which  still  offered  many 
attractions,  Priestley  journeyed  for  the  third  time 
early  in  1801.  He  was  not  especially  desirous  of 
making  this  third  visit,  but  as  his  son  and  daughter 
came  down  a  distance  of  130  miles  on  business,  he 
determined  to  accompany  them.  True,  Congress 
was  no  longer  there,  but  there  were  many  interest- 
ing people  about  with  whom  he  had  great  pleas- 
ure. With  Bishop  White,  who  was  most  orthodox 
and  whom  he  saw  frequently,  he  enjoyed  much 
''Christian  and  edifying  conversation."  John 
Andrews  was  another  favorite.  He  was  a  violent 
Federalist  and  informed  Priestley  that  the  latter 

had    done    them    (the    Federalists)    more 
mischief  than  any  other  man, 

yet  these  two  noble  spirits  lived  in  amity,  and 
Priestley    several    times    announced    that    Dr. 


I40  PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA 

Andrews  was  a  Unitarian,  which  is  not  the  thought 
today  in  regard  to  the  latter. 

It  was  an  eventful  year — this  year  of  1801. 
Much  that  was  unexpected  happened.  It 
brought  joy  and  it  brought  sorrow. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  just  as  well  to  note  the 
scientific  progress  of  the  Doctor  during  this  year, 
for  he  gave  forth  the  statement  that  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  producing  air  by  freezing  water.  This 
production  of  air  was  one  of  his  earlier  ideas 
(p.  62),  and  now  he  wrote — 

The  harder  the  frost  was  the  more  air  I 
procured. 

Further,  he  announced  that  on  heating  manganese 
(dioxide)  in  inflammable  air 

no  water  is  formed, 

and  what  is  rather  astounding,  he  was  certain  that 
azote  consisted  of  hydrogen  and  oxygen. 

To  the  Medical  Repository,  which  he  regarded 
highly,  there  was  sent  a  rather  thoughtful 
disquisiton  on  dreams.  In  it  the  idea  was 
expressed 

that  dreams  have  their  seat  in  some  region 
of  the  brain  more  deeply  seated  than  that 
which  is  occupied  by  our  waking  thoughts. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  141 

A  ^'Pile  of  Volta"  had  been  sent  out  from 
England.  It  amused  him  and  he  studied  it  care- 
fully when  he  was  led  to  remark  upon  the  theory 
of  this  curious  process  as  follows: 

The  operation  wholly  depends  on  the  calcina- 
tion of  the  zinc,  which  suffers  a  great  diminu- 
tion in  weight,  while  the  silver  is  little 
affected,  and  all  metals  lose  their  phlogiston 
in  calcination,  therefore  what  remains  of 
the  zinc  in  metallic  form  in  the  pile  and 
everything  connected  with  that  end  of  it, 
is  supersaturated  with  phlogiston. 

More  need  not  be  quoted.  It  was  phlogiston  and 
that  only  which  occasioned  the  electric  current. 
It  may  properly  be  added  that  in  this  connec- 
tion he  wrote: 

It  is  said  the  inventor  of  the  galvanic  pile 
discovered  the  conducting  power  of  char- 
coal, whereas  it  was  one  of  my  first  observa- 
tions in  electricity,  made  in  1766. 

Some  additional  attention  to  air  was  also  given  by 
him,  and  in  so  doing  he  reached  the  conclusion  that 

The  diamond  and  charcoal  of  copper  are,  as 
nearly  as  possible,  pure  phlogiston. 


142  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMEEICA 

One  wonders  how  he  could  so  persuade  himself, 
for  these  bodies  surely  possessed  weight.  Why 
did  he  not  rely  more  upon  his  balance? 

With  Woodhouse  he  discussed  the  product 
from  passing  water  over  heated  charcoal.  He 
had  been  endeavoring  to  refute  certain  statements 
made  by  Cruikshank.  There  is  no  question  but 
that  he  had  carbon  monoxide  in  hand,  and  had  it 
as  early  as  1799,  and  that  he  had  obtained  it  in 
several  different  ways.     Observe  this  statement: 

I  always  found  that  the  first  portion  of  the 
heavy  inflammable  air,  resulting  from  the 
passage  of  steam  over  heated  charcoal 
was  loaded  with  fixed  air  (CO2),  but  that 
in  the  course  of  the  process  this  dis- 
appeared, the  remaining  air  (CO)  burning 
with  a  lambent  flame. 

Scarcely  had  Priestley  set  foot  in  Philadelphia 
on  his  third  visitation  than  the  Port  Folio,  devoted 
usually  to  literature  and  biography,  printed  the 
following  unkind  words: 

The  tricks  of  Dr.  Priestley  to  embroil  the 
government,  and  disturb  the  religion  of 
his  own  country,  have  not  the  merit  of 
novelty. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  143 

To  which  the  Aurora  repKed: 

When  Porcupine  rioted  in  the  filth  of  a  de- 
bauched and  corrupt  faction  in  this  city, 
no  person  experienced  so  much  of  his  ob- 
scene and  vulgar  abuse  as  Dr.  Priestley. 
There  is  not  a  single  fact  on  record  or 
capable  of  being  shewn,  to  prove  that  Dr. 
Priestley  was  guilty  of  any  other  crime 
than  being  a  dissenter  from  the  church  of 
England,  and  a  warm  friend  of  American 
Independence.  For  this  he  was  abused  by 
Porcupine — and  Denny  is  only  Porcupine 
with  a  little  more  tinsel  to  cover  his  dirt. 
It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  after  a  whole 
sheet  of  promises  of  "literary  lore"  and 
"products  of  the  master  of  spirits"  of  the 
nation — the  first  and  second  numbers  of  the 
Portable  Foolery,  are  stuffed  with  extracts 
from  British  publications  of  an  ordinary 
quality. 

The  attack  of  the  Port  Folio  was  most  ungrac- 
ious. It  may  have  been  due  to  irritation  caused 
by  the  appearance  of  a  second  edition  of 
Priestley's  "Letters  to  the  Inhabitants  of  North- 
umberland." Nevertheless  the  thoughtful  and 
dignined   men   of    the    City — men  who  admired 


144  PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA 

Priestley's  broad  catholic  spirit  and  brave  atti- 
tude upon  all  debatable  questions,  men  who 
appreciated  his  scientific  attainments,  invited 
him  to  the  following  subscription  dinner,  as  an- 
nounced in  the  Aurora,  March,  6th: 

At  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  about  one  hun- 
dred citizens  sat  down  to  an  elegant  enter- 
tainment prepared  by  Mr.  Francis  to 
celebrate  the  commencement  of  the  admin- 
istration of  Mr.  Jefferson.  The  Governor 
honored  the  company  with  his  presence. 
Several  respectable  Foreigners  were  invited 
to  partake  of  the  festival  ...  A  variety 
of  patriotic  songs  were  admirably  sung; 
and  the  following  toasts  were  drank  with 
unanimous  applause. 

1.  The  Governor  of  Pennsylvania 

2.  Dr.  Priestley:  The  Philosopher  and  Phil- 
anthropist  .    . 

He  was  present  and  enjoyed  himself,  and  sad 
must  it  have  been  to  read  on  March  30th: 

Some  weeks  ago,  Dr.  Priestley  having  caught 
cold  by  attending  a  meeting  of  the  Philoso- 
phical Society  on  a  wet  evening,  was  taken 
ill  of  a  violent  inflammatory  complaint  which 
rendered  his  recovery  for  a  long  time  dubi- 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  I45 

ous.  We  announce  with  sincere  pleasure 
the  returning  health  of  a  man,  whose  life 
hath  hitherto  been  sedulously  and  success- 
fully devoted  to  the  interests  of  mankind. 

He  had,  indeed,  been  very  ill.  The  trouble  was 
pleurisy.  Dr.  Rush  was  his  physician.  By  his 
order  the  patient  was  bled  profusely  seven  times. 
During  this  trying  and  doubtful  period  there 
came  to  him  a  cheery  letter  from  President  Jeffer- 
son who  had  only  learned  of  his  illness.  Among 
other  things  the  President  wrote — 

Yours  is  one  of  the  few  lives  precious  to 
mankind,  and  for  the  continuance  of  which 
every  thinking  man  is  solicitous.  Bigots 
may  be  an  exception  .  .  .  But  I  have 
got  into  a  long  disquisition  on  politics  when  I 
only  meant  to  express  my  sympathy  in  the 
state  of  your  health,  and  to  tender  you  all 
the  affections  of  pubHc  and  private  hospi- 
tality. I  should  be  very  happy  to  see  you 
here  (Washington).  I  leave  this  about 
the  30th  to  return  about  the  25th  of  April. 
If  you  do  not  leave  Philadelphia  before 
that,  a  little  excursion  hither  would  help 
your  health.     I  should  be  much  gratified 

with  the  possession  of  a  guest  I  so  much 
10 


146  PRIESTLEY  IN   AMERICA 

esteem,  and  should  claim  a  right  to  lodge 
you,  should  you  make  such  an  excursion. 

But  Priestley  journeyed  homeward  on  April  13th, 
and  en  route  wrote  the  following  letter,  addressed 
to  John  Vaughan,  Esq.  179  Walnut  Street, 
Philadelphia,  Pa. : 

April  17,  1801 
Reading,  Friday  Evening 
Dear  Sir, 

I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you,  agreeably 
to  your  kind  request,  that  we  are  safely 
arrived  at  this  place,  my  daughter  better 
than  when  we  left  Philadelphia,  and  as  to 
myself,  I  feel  just  as  well,  and  as  able  to 
bear  any  fatigue,  as  before  my  late  illness. 
This,  however,  will  always  remind  me  of 
your  friendly  attentions,  and  those  of  your 
sister,  if  a  thousand  and  other  circum- 
stances did  not  do  the  same,  and  of  them 
all  I  hope  I  shall  ever  retain  a  grateful 
remembrance. 

Along  the  whole  road  I  am  struck  with  the 
marks  of  an  astonishing  degree  of  improve- 
ment since  I  came  this  way  four  years 
ago.  I  do  not  think  that  any  part  of 
England  is  better  cultivated,  and  at  pres- 
ent the  wheat  is  in  a  very  promising  state. 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  147 

I  wish  we  may  hear  of  that  of  England 
promising  as  well.  Three  years  of  such  a 
scarcity  is  more  than  any  country  could 
bear,  and  you  will  believe  me  when  I  say 
that,  if  it  was  in  my  power,  I  would  guard 
it  not  only  from  famine,  but  from  every 
other  calamity. 
With  my  daughter's  kindest  remembrance,  I 
am,  as  ever 
Dear  Sir 

Yours  sincerely, 

J.  PRIESTLEY.i 

Resuming  his  correspondence  with  his  numerous 
friends  in  England,  he  said: 

My  chief  resource  is  my  daily  occupation. 

He  also  wrote  Dr.  Rush  his  thanks  for  having 
advised  him  to  read  Noah  Webster's  Pestilential 
Disorders  which  follow  the  appearance  of  meteors 
and  earthquakes,  taking  occasion  also  to  excuse 
his  opposition  to  blood-letting, — 

I  believe  that  I  owe  my  life  to  your  judicious 
direction  of  it.     I  shall  never  forget  your 

^  The  original  of  this  letter  is  now  the  property  of  Dr.  C.  A. 
Browne,  New  York.  He  graciously  permitted  it  to  be  inserted 
here. 


148  PRIESTLEY  IN   AMERICA 

SO  readily  forgiving  my  suspicion,  and  my 
requesting  the  concurrence  of  Dr.  Wistar 
after  the  third  bleeding.  It  was  his  opinion 
as  well  as  yours  and  Dr.  Caldwell's,  that 
my  disorder  required  several  more;  and  the 
completeness  of  my  cure,  and  the  speediness 
of  my  recovery,  prove  that  you  were  right. 
In  the  future  I  shall  never  be  afraid  of  the 
lancet  when  so  judiciously  directed. 

To  Rush  he  confided  his  doubts  about  his  paper 
on  Dreams.  He  cannot  account  for  them,  hence  he 
has  offered  merely  an  hypothesis,  and  continues — 

I  frequently  think  with  much  pleasure  and 
regret  on  the  many  happy  hours  I  spent 
in  your  company,  and  wish  we  were  not 
at  so  great  distance.  Such  society  would 
be  the  value  of  life  to  me.  But  I  must  ac- 
quiesce in  what  a  wise  providence  has  ap- 
pointed. 

His  friends  continued  sending  him  books.  And 
how  joyously  he  received  them.  At  times  he 
would  mention  special  works,  as  for  example, — 

Please  to  add  Gate's  Answer  to  Wall,  and 
Wall's  Reply;  Sir  John  Pringle's  Discourses 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  1 49 

and  Life  by  Dr.  Kippis;  Chandler's  Life 
of  King  David;  Colin  Milne's  Botanical 
Dictionary,  Botanic  Dialogues,  and  other 
books  of  Natural  History;  Kirwan's  Analy- 
sis of  Mineral  Waters;  Crosby's  History 
of  English  Baptists. 

In  one  of  his  letters  he  observed — 

A  person  must  be  in  my  situation.  .  .  to 
judge  of  my  feelings  when  I  receive  new 
books. 

Strangely  enough  a  box  of  books  was  sent  him  to 
Carlisle  (Pa.)  and  had  been  there  for  two  years 
before  he  learned  of  it. 

Perhaps  a  word  more  may  be  allowed  in  regard 
to  the  paper  on  Pestilential  Disorders  by  Noah 
Webster.  This  was  the  lexicographer.  Priestley 
thought  the  work  curious  and  important,  but  the 
philosophy  in  it  wild  and  absurd  in  the  extreme. 
And  of  Rush  he  asks — 

Pray  is  he  (Webster)  a  believer  in  revela- 
tion or  not?  I  find  several  atheists  catch 
at  everything  favourable  to  the  doctrine  of 
equivocal  generation;  but  it  must  be  repro- 
bated by  all  who  are  not. 


150  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

Chemists  will  be  glad  to  hear  that 


&•■ 


The  annual  expense  of  my  laboratory  will 
hardly  exceed  50  pounds,  and  I  think  I  may 
have  done  more  in  proportion  to  my 
expenses  than  any  other  man.  What  I 
have  done  here,  and  with  little  expense, 
will  in  time  be  thought  very  considerable; 
but  on  account  of  the  almost  universal 
reception  of  the  new  theory,  what  I  do  is 
not,  at  present,  attended  to;  but  Mr.  Watt 
and  Mr.  Kier,  as  good  chemists  as  any 
in  Europe,  approve  of  my  tract  on  Phlog- 
iston, and  truth  will  in  time  prevail  over  any 
error. 

And  to  another  he  said. 

Having  had  great  success  in  my  experiments 
in  this  country.  .  .  I  shall  never  desert 
philosophy. 

The  following  year  (1802)  had  several  points  of 
interest  in  connection  with  the  good  Doctor;  for 
one,  who  has  followed  his  career  thus  far,  will  wdsh 
to  call  him  that. 

Communications  from  the  home  country  and 
from  France,  while  not  so  numerous,  were  yet 
full    of    interesting   news.     His   friend   Belsham 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  151 

brought  out  his  Elements  of  Philosophy  of  the 
Mind,  and  although  Priestley  paid  it  a  most 
gracious  tribute  he  did  not  hesitate  to  suggest 
alterations  and  additions  of  various  kinds.  His 
dearest  friend  Lindsey  fell  seriously  ill  this  year. 
This  gave  him  inexpressible  anxiety  and  grief. 
As  soon  as  Lindsey  was,  in  a  measure,  restored  the 
fraternal  correspondence  was  resumed. 

Much  time  w^as  given  by  the  Doctor  to  reading 
and  preparing  for  the  press  the  volumes  of  his 
Church  History  and  Notes  on  the  Scriptures. 
The  printing  was  to  be  done  in  Northumberland. 
Some  doubt  was  entertained  as  to  whether  he 
would  have  funds  sufficient  to  pay  for  the  publica- 
tion, and  when  the  urgent  letters  from  friends 
tempted  him  to  undertake  a  European  trip  he 
generally  replied  that  he  was  too  far  advanced  in 
life,  that  the  general  debility  produced  by  perni- 
cious ague  rendered  him  unfit  for  extended  travel, 
and  then  he  offset  the  disappointment  by  saying 
that  the  expense  of  the  voyage  would  more  than 
suffice  for  the  printing  of  one  of  his  proposed  four 
volumes  of  the  Church  History.  This  was  a  most 
complete,  interesting  and  instructive  work.  Even 
today  one  profits  by  its  perusal  and  an  immense 
fund  of  worthwhile  information  and  knowledge 
may  be  derived  from  even  a  cursory  study  of  his 
Notes  on  the  Scriptures, 


152  PRIESTLEY    IN   AMERICA 

The  monotony  of  village  life  was  broken  by 
occasional  letters  from  President  Jefferson.  These 
were  most  affectionate  and  also  illuminating  on 
national  matters.  Copies  of  these  were  sent  to 
English  friends  with  the  injunction  not  to  show 
them  or  permit  them  to  fall  into  other  hands. 

Dr.  Thomas  Cooper  was  not  with  Priestley  in 
this  year  (1802),  being  detained  at  Lancaster 
where  the  Assembly  sat.  Naturally  Cooper  made 
himself  conspicuous,  and  Priestley  prophesied  a 
great  future  for  him,  providing  that  the  jealousy 
entertained  for  foreigners  did  not  prove  too  serious 
an  obstacle. 

Priestley  took  much  pleasure  at  this  period  in 
his  garden,  and  wrote, 

Plants,  as  well  as  other  objects,  engage  more 
of  my  attention  than  they  ever  did  before 

I  wish  I  knew  a  little  more  botany ; 

but  old,  as  I  am,  I  learn  something  new 
continually. 

Now  and  then  he  mentions  a  considerable  degree 
of  deafness,  and  sent  to  Philadelphia  for  a  speak- 
ing trumpet,  but  cheerily  adds, 

I  am,  however,  thankful  that  my  eyes  do  not 
fail  me. 


\ 


PRIESTLEY    IN   AMERICA  1 53 

Here  and  there  occur  plaints  like  these: 

Though  my  philosophical  labours  are  nearly 
over,  I  am  glad  to  hear  what  is  passing  in 
that  region  in  which  I  once  moved,  though 
what  I  then  did  seems  for  the  present  to  be 
overlooked  and  forgotten.  I  am  confi- 
dent, however,  as  much  as  I  can  be  of  any- 
thing, that  notwithstanding  the  almost 
universal  reception  of  the  new  theory,  which 
is  the  cause  of  it,  it  is  purely  chimerical,  and 
cannot  keep  its  ground  after  a  sufficient  scru- 
tiny, which  may  be  deferred ,  but  which  must 
take  place  in  time.  I  am  glad  to  find  that 
Mr.  Cruikshank  in  England,  as  well  as 
chemists  in  France,  begin  to  attend  to  my 
objections,  though  the  principal  of  them 
have  been  published  many  years;  but,  as 
you  say,  many  will  not  read,  and  therefore 
they  cannot  know  anything  that  makes 
against  the  opinions  they  have  once 
adopted.  Bigotry  is  not  confined  to  theol- 
ogy. 

The  experimental  work  for  the  year  was  not 
very  great.  Probably  this  was  the  result  of  his 
general  physical  weakness  and  in  part  it  was  due 
to  his  preoccupation  with  literary  labours.     How- 


154  PRIESTLEY    IN   AMERICA 

ever,  he  did  write  out  his  results,  obtained  on  heat- 
ing ''finery  cinders  and  charcoal"  and  thus  empha- 
sized the  gaseous  product  of  which  he  observes — 

It  cannot  be  denied,  however,  that  this 
gaseous  oxyd  of  carbon  (CO)  is  inflammable 
.  .  .  .and  is  essentially  different  from 
all  other  oxyds,  none  of  which  are 
combustible. 

Along  in  the  month  of  November  he  wrote  a 
vigorous  protest  against  Cruikshank's  explana- 
tion of  the  mode  of  formation  of  carbon  monoxide. 
In  this  polemic  he  of  course  threw  into  prominence 
his  precious  phlogiston,  the  presence  of  which 
seemed  unnecessary — but  this  was  not  so  thought 
by  the  Doctor,  who  also  favored  the  Medical 
Repository  with  observations  on  the  conversion 
of  iron  into  steel,  in  which  there  is  but  a  single 
reference  to  phlogiston,  but  unfortunately  this 
single  reference  spoils  the  general  argument  and 
the  correct  and  evident  interpretation  of  the 
reaction.     It  reads  as  follows: 

Iron  is  convertible  into  steel  by  imbibing 
only  phlogiston  from  the  charcoal  with 
which  it  is  cemented. 


PRIESTLEY   IN  AMERICA  1 55 

There  are  abundant  correct  observations.  Their 
interpretation  sadly  enough  is  very  false,  all 
because  of  the  persistent  introduction  of  phlogiston 
where  it  was  not  essential. 

Priestley  advised  Rush  that  because  of  an  un- 
healthy season  he  had  suffered  very  much  from 
ague,  and  said, — 

Tho'  I  was  never  robust,  I  hardly  knew  what 
sickness  was  before  my  seizure  in  Phila- 
delphia, but  the  old  building  has  since  that 
had  so  many  shocks,  that  I  am  apprehen- 
sive it  will  ere  long  give  way.  But  I  have 
abundant  reason  to  be  satisfied,  and  shall 
retire  from  life  conviva  satur. 

Devotion  to  work  was  on  the  part  of  Priestley, 
something  marvelous.  As  his  son  and  daughter- 
in-law  were  drawn  to  Philadelphia  in  February, 
1803,  they  carried  their  father  with  them.  He  was 
rather  indisposed  to  this,  yet  he  disliked  remaining 
alone  at  home  notwithstanding  the  printing  of 
the  Church  History  required  considerable  per- 
sonal attention.  The  marvelous  part  of  it  all 
was  that  while  in  Philadelphia,  on  this  his  fourth 
and  last  visit,  while  he  fraternized  with  congenial 
souls  and  even  presented  himself  at  various  social 
functions,  he  yet  found  leisure  to  print  his  little 
volume  entitled  ''Socrates  and  Jesus  Compared," 


156  PRIESTLEY    IN    AMERICA 

which  gave  much  pleasure  to  President  Jefferson, 
so  much  indeed  that  he  hoped  Priestley  would, — 

take  up  the  subject  on  a  more  extended 
scale,  and  show  that  Jesus  was  truly 

the  most  innocent,  most  benevolent,  the 
most  eloquent  and  sublime  character  that 
has  ever  been  exhibited  to  man. 

Jefferson's  genuine  approval  of  his  effort  was 
balm  to  Priestley's  soul.  He,  of  course,  wrote 
Lindsey  and  Belsham  about  it;  yes,  copied  the 
letter  of  Jefferson  and  sent  the  same  to  them  with 
the  comment, — 

He  is  generally  considered  as  an  unbeliever. 
If  so,  however,  he  cannot  be  far  from  us, 
and  I  hope  in  the  way  to  be  not  only  almost, 
but  altogether  what  we  are. 

It  was  February  28,  1803,  that  the  august  mem- 
bers of  the  American  Philosophical  Society 
resolved : 

That  this  Society  will  dine  together  on  Satur- 
day next,  and  that  J.  B.  Smith,  Wistar, 
Williams,  Hewson  &  Vaughan  be  a  Com- 
mittee to  make  the  necessary  arrangements 
for  that  purpose  and  to  request  Dr. 
Priestley's  company,  informing  him  that 


PRIESTLEY    IN   AMERICA  1 57 

the  Society  are  induced  to  make  the  request 
from  their  high  respect  for  his  Philosophical 
Labours  &  discoveries,  &  to  enjoy  the  more 
particular  pleasure  of  a  social  meeting — 
The  Dinner  to  be  prepared  at  the  City 
Tavern  or  Farmer's  Hotel. 

It  was  this  resolution  which  caused  notices,  such 
as  the  following  to  go  out  to  the  distinguished 
membership  of  the  venerable  Society — 

Philadelphia,  March  2,  1803 
Sir:  You  are  hereby  invited  to  join  the  other 
members  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society,  in  giving  a  testimony  of  respect, 
to  their  venerable  associate  Dr.  Joseph 
Priestley,  who  dines  with  them  on  Satur- 
day next  at  Francis'  Hotel — Dinner  on 
table  at  3  o'clock. 

C.  Wistar 
J.  Williams 
J.  R.  Smith 
T.  T.  Hewson 
J.  Vaughan 
Committee 

An    answer    will    be    called    for    tomorrow 

morning. 
DR.  RUSH 


158  PRIESTLEY    IN   AMERICA 

It  was  a  very  dignified  and  brilliant  company. 
Law,  medicine,  theology,  science,  commerce  re- 
presented by  very  worthy  and  excellent  gentlemen. 
And,  among  them  sat  the  modest,  unassuming, 
versatile  Priestley.  That  he  was  happy  in  his 
surroundings  there  is  ample  reason  to  believe. 
He  loved  to  be  among  men.  He,  too, was  appre- 
ciated and  eagerly  sought  because  of  his  winning 
ways,  his  tolerance  and  liberality.  He  was 
moderately  convivial  though 

He  said  that  one  glass  of  wine  at  dinner  was 
enough  for  an  old  man,  but  he  did  not 
prescribe  his  own  practice  as  an  universal 
rule. 

About  eight  weeks  were  spent  in  the  City.  On 
return  to  the  dear  country  home  the  doctor  took  up 
his  various  duties  and  burdens,  but  the  infirmities 
of  age  were  often  alluded  to  by  him,  and  they  no 
doubt  delayed  all  of  his  work,  which  was  further 
aggravated  by  a  dangerous  fall  on  his  left  hip  and 
strain  of  the  muscles  of  the  thigh.  He  was 
extremely  lame  and  for  some  time  went  about  on 
crutches,  which  held  him  out  of  his  laboratory. 
To  him  this  was  very  trying.  But  he  persisted. 
He  was  truly  a  splendid  example  for  the  younger 
aspirants  for  scientific  honors.     During  the  year 


PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA  1 59 

he  entered  on  a  controversial  article  with  his  old 
friend  Erasmus  Darwin  upon  the  subject  of 
spontaneous  combustion,  and  subsequently  com- 
municated to  the  Medical  Repository  an  account 
of  the  conversion  of  salt  into  nitre.  He  had  posi- 
tive knowledge  of  this  fact  for  quite  a  little  while, 
and  upon  the  occasion  of  a  visit  by  Dr.  Wistar, 
told  the  latter  concerning  this  with  the  request 
that  no  mention  be  made  of  it,  evidently  that  he 
might  have  opportunity  for  additional  confirma- 
tion. However,  very  unexpectedly.  Dr.  Mitchill 
published  something  of  a  similar  character,  there- 
fore Priestley  believing  that  he  ought ''  to  acquaint 
experimentalists  in  general  with  all  that  I  know  of 
the  matter,"  announced  that  in  1799  when  ex- 
perimenting on  the  formation  of  air  from  water, 

having  made  use  of  the  same  salt,  mixed 
with  snow,  in  every  experiment,  always 
evaporating  the  mixture  the  salt  was 
recovered  dry.  I  collected  the  salt  when 
I  had  done  with  it,  and  put  it  into  a  glass 
bottle,  with  a  label  expressing  what  it  was, 
and  what  use  had  been  made  of  it. 

Subsequently  he  treated  this  salt,  after  many 
applications  of  it,  with  sulphuric  acid,  when  he 
remarked — 


l6o  PRIESTLEY   IN   AMERICA 

I  was   soon   surprized   to   observe   that   red 
vapours  rose  from  it. 

An  examination  of  another  portion  of  the  salt 
showed  — 

that  when  it  was  thrown  upon  hot  coals 
...   it  burned  exactly  like  nitre. 

So  it  was  a  conversion  of  sodium  chloride  into 
sodium  nitrate.  That  this  change  must  have 
come  from  the  snow  with  which  it  had  been 
dissolved,  could  not  be  doubted,  and  he  further 
observed — 

Now  in  the  upper  regions  of  the  atmosphere 
.  .  .  there  may  be  a  redundancy  of 
inflammable  air  .  .  .  and  a  proportion 
of  dephlogisticated  air.  In  that  region 
there  are  many  electrical  appearances,  as 
the  aurora  borealis,  falling  stars  &c;  in 
the  lower  parts  of  it  thunder  and  lighten- 
ing, and  by  these  means  the  two  kinds  of 
air  may  be  decomposed,  and  a  highly 
dephlogisticated  nitrous  acid,  as  mine 
always  was,  produced.  This  being  formed, 
will  of  course,  attach  itself  to  any  snow  or 
hail  that  may  be  forming   .    .    .   confirm- 


PRIESTLEY    IN   AMERICA  l6l 

ing  in  this  unexpected  manner,  the  vulgar 
opinion  of  nitre  being  contained  in  snow. 

This  seems  to  be  the  last  communication  of  this 
character  which  came  from  the  Doctor's  pen. 

He  was  in  despair  relative  to  the  academy  which 
had  ever  been  his  hope  for  the  College  which  in 
his  early  years  in  Northumberland  he  prayed 
might  arise  and  in  which  he  would  be  at  liberty  to 
particularly  impart  his  Unitarian  doctrines. 

An  interesting  item  relative  to  the  Academy 
appeared  in  the  Aurora  for  April  ist,  1803.  It 
shows  that  State  aid  for  education  was  sought  in 
those  early  days.     It  is  a  report,   and  reads — 

A  REPORT  of  the  Committee  to  whom  was 
referred  the  Petition  of  Thomas  Cooper,  on 
behalf  of  the  Northumberland  Academy, 
praying  lesiglative  aid.  The  report  states 
that  Thomas  Cooper  appeared  before  the 
Committee  and  stated  that  upward  of 
$4000  had  been  expended  on  the  building 
appropriated  to  that  institution.  That 
the  debts  due  thereon  amounted  in  the 
whole  to  near  S2000.  That  Dr.  Joseph 
Priestley  had  the  power  of  disposing  of  a 

very  valuable   library   consisting   of   near 

11 


l62  PRIESTLEY    IN    AMERICA 

4000  volumes  of  scarce  and  well  chosen 
books  in  various  branches  of  literature 
and  science,  to  any  public  seminary  of 
learning  in  the  United  States,  which 
library,  the  said  Dr.  Priestley  was  desirous 
of  procuring  as  a  gift  to  the  Northumber- 
land Academy,  provided  that  institution 
was  likely  to  receive  substantial  assistance 
from  the  legislature,  so  as  to  be  enabled 
to  fulfil  the  purposes  of  its  establishment. 

That  the  Trustees  would  have  no  occasion  to 
ask  of  the  legislature  on  behalf  of  that 
Academy,  a  subscription  greater  than  a 
few  individuals  had  expended,  and  were 
still  ready  and  desirous  of  contributing 
thereto;  and  suggest  it  to  your  Committee, 
that  if  out  of  the  monies  due  from  the 
County  of  Northumberland  to  the  State  a 
sufficient  sum  was  granted  to  exonerate  the 
Academy  from  debt,  no  more  would  be 
wanted  in  the  future  to  effect  the  purposes 
of  that  institution,  than  a  sum  equal  in 
amount  to  the  value  of  the  library  proposed 
to  be  furnished  by  Dr.  Priestley;  such 
value  to  be  fixed  by  a  person  appointed 
for  the  purpose  by  the  legislature. 

The  Committee  was  of  the  opinion  that  it 
would  be  expedient  for  the  legislature  to 


PRIESTLEY    IN    AMERICA  1 63 

coincide  with  the  suggestion  of  Thomas 
Cooper  and  so  recommended  to  the  Legisla- 
ture. Their  report  was  adopted,  39  to  31. 
It  was  strongly  advocated  by  Jesse  Moore, 
Esq.,  General  Mitchell  and  N.  Ferguson 
from  the  city.  It  was  opposed  by  Jacob 
Alter  from  Cumberland,  who  declared  that 
although  there  were  a  great  many  public 
schools  and  colleges  and  places  of  that  kind 
scattered  over  the  State,  he  never  knew  any 
good  they  did,  except  to  breed  up  a  set  of 
idle  and  odious  lawyers  to  plague  the 
people! 


At  this  particular  time  there  still  existed  con- 
fiscated land  from  the  sale  of  which  revenue  was 
derived,  and  this  income  it  had  been  agreed  upon 
should  be  devoted  to  the  erection  and  support 
of  academies  throughout  the  State.  Later  this 
scheme  was  discontinued.  But,  Dr.  Priestley 
was  not  so  enthusiastic  as  formerly.  He  was 
occupied  with  the  Church  History,  three  volumes 
of  which  were  in  print,  and  it  was  expected  that 
the  fourth  volume  would  follow  shortly  thereafter. 
However,  his  health  was  precarious.  He  could 
not  eat  meats,  and  lived  chiefly  on  broths  and 
soups,  saying,- —  ' 


164  PRIESTLEY    IN    AMERICA 

The  defect  is  in  the  stomach  and  Uver,  and  of 
no  common  kind.  If  I  hold  out  till  I  have 
finished  what  I  have  now  on  hand,  I  shall 
retire  from  the  scene,  satisfied  and  thankful. 

This  was  written  in  August,  and  the  Doctor 
stuck  bravely  to  his  hterary  labors.  A  few 
months  later  he  wrote  Lindsey, — 

I    really    do    not    expect    to  survive  you. 

Yet,    he   also   entertained   the   thought   that   he 
might, — 

assist  in  the  publication  of  a  whole  Bible, 
from  the  several  translations  of  particular 
books,  smoothing  and  correcting  them 
where  I  can. 

January  of  1804  brought  him  many  interesting, 
splendid  and  valuable  books  from  friends  in 
London.  He  was  overjoyed  on  their  arrival. 
Promptly  he  gave  himself  to  their  perusal  because 
his  deafness  confined  him  to  home  and  his  extreme 
weakness  forbade  any  excursions.  Then  the 
winter  kept  him  from  his  laboratory,  and  his 
sole  occupation  was  reading  and  writing.  He 
entertained  a  variety  of  plans,  proceeding  with 


PRIESTLEY    IN    AMERICA  1 65 

some  but  in  the  midst  of  these  tasks  of  love — in 
the  very  act  of  correcting  proof,  he  quietly 
breathed  his  last!  It  was  Monday,  February  6, 
1804,  that  Thomas  Cooper,  the  devoted  friend  of 
Priestley,  wrote  Benjamin  Rush:— 

Dear  Sir: 

Mr.  Joseph  Priestley  is  not  at  present  in 
spirits  to  write  to  his  friends,  and  it  falls  to 
my  lot  therefore  to  acquaint  you  that  Dr. 
Priestley  died  this  morning  about  no  'clock 
without  the  slightest  degree  of  apparent 
pain.  He  had  for  some  time  previous 
foreseen  his  dissolution,  but  he  kept  up  to 
the  last  his  habitual  composure,  cheerful- 
ness and  kindness.  He  would  have  been 
71  the  24th  of  next  month.  For  about  a 
fortnight  there  were  symptoms  of  dropsy 
owing  to  general  debility:  about  two  days 
before  his  death,  these  symptoms  dis- 
appeared, and  a  troublesome  cough  came 
on  perhaps  from  a  translation  to  the  chest. 
Yesterday  he  had  strength  enough  to  look 
over  a  revise  of  the  Annotations  he  was 
publishing  on  the  Old  and  New  Testament, 
and  this  morning  he  dictated  in  good  langu- 
age some  notices  which  he  wished  his  son 
Mr.  Priestley  to  add  to  his   unpublished 


1 66  PRIESTLEY    IN    AMERICA 

works.  I  am  sure  you  will  sincerely  regret 
the  decease  of  a  man  so  highly  eminent 
and  useful  in  the  literary  and  philosophical 
world,  and  so  much  presumably  your 
friend. 

Yes,  the  valiant  old  champion  of  a  lost  cause 
was  no  more.  Two  days  before  his  death  ''he 
went  to  his  laboratory" — but,  finding  his  weakness 
too  great,  with  difficulty  returned  to  his  room. 
Loyal  to  his  science  to  the  very  end! 

To  American  chemists  he  appeals  strongly 
because  of  his  persistent  efforts  in  research.  His 
coming  to  this  country  aroused  a  real  interest  in 
the  science  which  has  not  waned  in  the  slighest 
since  his  demise. 

When  the  sad  news  reached  the  Hall  of  the 
American  Philosophical  Society,  Dr.  Benjamin 
Smith  Barton  was  chosen  to  eulogize  Priestley. 
This  notable  event  took  place  on  January  3rd, 
1805.     The  Aurora  reported: 

Dr.  Benjamin  Smith  Barton,  one  of  the  vice- 
presidents  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society,  having  been  previously  appointed 
by  the  society  to  deliver  an  eulogium  to  the 
memory  of  their  late  associate,  Dr.  Joseph 
Priestley,   the   same  was   accordingly  de- 


PRIESTLEY    IN   AMERICA  1 67 

livered  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
in  this  city,  on  Thursday  the  3rd  inst.  be- 
fore the  society,  who  went  in  a  body  from 
their  hall  to  the  church,  preceded  by  their 
patron,  the  governor  of  the  state.  In- 
vitations were  given  on  this  occasion  to  the 
Revd.  Clergy  of  the  city;  the  college  of 
Physicians;  the  Medical  Society;  the  gentle- 
men of  the  Bar,  with  the  students  at  Law; 
the  trustees  and  faculty  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  with  their  students  in  the 
Arts  and  in  Medicine;  the  judges  and 
officers  of  the  federal  and  state  Courts; 
the  foreign  ministers  and  other  pubHc 
characters  then  in  the  city;  the  mayor; 
aldermen  and  city  councils:  the  trustees 
and  session  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church;  the  directors  of  the  City  Library; 
the  directors  and  Physicians  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Hospital,  of  the  Alms  House,  and 
of  the  Dispensary;  the  proprietor  and 
Director  of  the  Philadelphia  Museum;  and 
the  contributors  towards  the  Cabinet  and 
Library  of  the  Society.  After  the  con- 
clusion of  a  very  interesting  eulogium,  the 
society  returned  their  thanks  to  the 
orator,  and  requested  a  copy  for  the  purpose 
of  publication. 


l68  PRIESTLEY    IN    AMERICA 

One's  curiosity  is  quickened  on  thinking  what 
Barton  said  in  his  address.  Search  in  many  direc- 
tions failed  to  bring  forth  the  Eulogium.  It  had 
been  ordered  to  be  printed  in  the  Transactions  of 
the  Society.  This  was  never  done.  Bat  there 
was  a  minute  (seven  years  later)  in  the  meeting  of 
the  Society  (Nov.  6,  1812)  to  the  effect  that 

Dr.  Barton's  request  for  permission  to  with- 
draw it  (Eulogium)  to  be  enlarged  and 
published  separately  was  referred  for  con- 
sideration to  the  next  meeting. 

The  request  was  granted  at  the  next  meeting, 
but  nowhere  among  Barton's  literary  remains 
was  the  precious  document  to  be  found.  Lost 
very  probably — when  it  might  have  revealed  so 
jnuch. 

Priestley's  death  was  deeply  mourned  through- 
out the  land.  The  pubhc  prints  brought  full  and 
elaborate  accounts  of  his  Ufe,  and  touching  allu- 
sions to  the  fullness  of  his  brilHant  career.  Such 
expressions  as  these  were  heard, — 

As  a  metaphysician  he  stands  foremost 
among  those  who  have  attempted  the 
investigation  of  its  abstruse  controversies.- 

As  a  politician  he  assiduously  and  successfully 


PRIESTLEY    IN    AMERICA  169 

laboured  to  extend  and  illustrate  those 
general  principles  of  civil  liberty  which  are 
happily  the  foundation  of  the  Constitution 
of  his  adopted  Country, — 

His  profound  attention  to  the  belles-lettres, 
and  to  the  other  departments  of  general  lit- 
erature, has  been  successfully  exemplified 
among  his  other  writings,  by  his  lectures  on 
oratory  and  criticism,  and  on  general  history 
and  policy, — 

Of  the  most  important  and  fashionable  study 
of  Pneumatic  Chemistry  he  may  fairly  be 
said  to  be  the  father. 

He  was  a  man  of  restless  activity,  but  he 
uniformity  directed  that  activity  to  what 
seemed  to  him  the  public  good,  seeking 
neither  emolument  nor  honour  from  men. 
Dr.  Priestley  was  possessed  of  great  ardour 
and  vivacity  of  intellect  .  .  .  His  in- 
tegrity was.  unimpeachable;  and  even 
malice  itself  could  not  fix  a  stain  on  his 
private  character. 

And  what  a  splendid  tribute  is  contained  in  the 
following  passages  from  Cuvier: 


lyo  PRIESTLEY    IN    AMERICA 

Priestley,  loaded  with  glory,  was  modest 
enough  to  be  astonished  at  his  good  fortune, 
and  at  the  multitude  of  beautiful  facts,  which 
nature  seemed  to  hav€  revealed  to  him 
alone.  He  forgot  that  her  favours  were  not 
gratuitous,  and  if  she  had  so  well  explained 
herself,  it  was  because  he  had  known  how  to 
oblige  her  to  do  so  by  his  indefatigable 
perseverance  in  questioning  her,  and  by 
the  thousand  ingenious  means  he  had  taken 
to  snatch  her  answers  from  her. 

Others  carefully  hide  that  which  they  owe  to 
chance;  Priestley  seemed  to  wish  to  ascribe 
all  his  merit  to  fortuitous  circumstances, 
remarking,  with  unexampled  candour,  how 
many  times  he  had  profited  by  them, 
without  knowing  it,  how  many  times  he 
was  in  possession  of  new  substances  with- 
out having  perceived  them;  and  he  never 
dissimulated  the  erroneous  views  which 
sometimes  directed  his  efforts,  and  from 
which  he  was  only  undeceived  by  experi- 
ence. These  confessions  did  honour  to 
his  modesty,  without  disarming  jealousy. 
Those  to  whom  their  own  ways 
and  methods  had  never  discovered  any- 
thing called  him  a  simple  worker  of  experi- 
ments,   without   method    and  without  an 


PRIESTLEY    IN   AMERICA  171 

object  '4t  is  not  astonishing,"  they  added, 
''that  among  so  many  trials  and  combina- 
tions, he  should  find  some  that  were  fortu- 
nate." But  real  natural  philosophers  were 
not  duped  by  these  selfish  criticisms. 

Many  encomiums  like  the  preceding — yes,  a 
thousandfold — could  easily  be  gathered  if  neces- 
sary to  show  the  regard  and  confidence  held  for 
this  remarkable  man  to  whom  America  is  truly 
very  deeply  indebted. 

Some  years  ago  the  writer  paid  a  visit  to  the 
God's  Acre  of  Northumberland.  He  arrived 
after  dark  and  was  conveyed  to  the  sacred  place 
in  an  automobile.  Soon  the  car  stopped.  Its 
headlights  illuminated  the  upright  flat  stone  which 
marked  the  last  resting  place  of  the  great  chemist, 
and  in  that  light  not  only  was  the  name  of  the 
sleeper  clearly  read  but  the  less  distinct  but  legible 
epitaph: 

Return  unto  thy  rest,  0  my  soul,  for  the 
Lord  hath  dealt  bountifully  with  thee. 
I  will  lay  me  down  in  peace  and  sleep  till  I 
wake  in  the  morning  of  the  resurrection. 

Pondering  on  these  lines  there  slowly  returned 
to    mind    the    words    of    Franklin's    epitaph, — 


172  PRIESTLEY    IN    AMERICA 

Franklin,  who,  years  before,  had  encouraged  and 
aided  the  noble  exile,  who  was  ever  mindful  of  the 
former's  goodness  to  him: 

The  Body 
of 

Benjamin  Franklin 
Printer 
(Like  the  cover  of  an  old  book 

Its  contents  torn  out 
And  stript  of  its  lettering  and  gilding) 

Lies  here  food  for  Worms 
But  the  work  shall  not  be  lost 
For  it  will  (as  he  believed)  appear 

once  more 
In  a  new  and  more  elegant  Edition 
Revised  and  corrected 
by 
The  Author 

And  then,  by  some  strange  mental  reaction,  there 
floated  before  the  writer  the  paragraph  uttered  by 
Professor  Huxley,  when  in  1874  a  statue 
to  Priestley  was  unveiled  in  the  City  of 
Birmingham: 

Our  purpose  is  to   do   honour to 

Priestley  the  peerless  defender  of  national 


PRIESTLEY    IN   AMERICA  1 73 

freedom  in  thought  and  in  action;  to 
Priestley  the  philosophical  thinker;  to  that 
Priestley  who  held  a  foremost  place  among 
the  'swift  runners  who  hand  over  the  lamp 
of  life,'  and  transmit  from  one  generation 
to  another  the  fire  kindled,  in  the  child- 
hood of  the  world,  at  the  Promethean 
altar  of  science. 


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